


Shared History

by watermelonriddles



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Bruises, F/M, Flashbacks, Guns, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Rating May Change, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2020-03-26 16:04:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 62,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19009147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watermelonriddles/pseuds/watermelonriddles
Summary: A re-telling of season one based on the idea that Beth and Rio met as teenagers.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So, for the purposes of this story, in the present day (season 1) I’ve used the following ages: Beth (40), Rio (37), Dean (41), Annie (30), Ruby (40). In flashbacks, I'll often indicate at least one of their ages so you can work out the others if you really want to.
> 
> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Beth and Rio reunite after around a decade apart.
> 
>  **Past:** A look into how Beth and Rio met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will follow season one but might (and probably will) diverge pretty heavily from canon at some point. That being said, there are lines of dialogue and action taken directly from the show.

Beth is too busy screaming and dropping her groceries all over the floor to take a close enough look at the man sitting on her island counter. The first wave of recognition comes from his voice - “Nah, he’s good. We already took him out.” - but then she notices the two other men and the guns, especially the gold one on the counter, and her attention is drawn away again.

“What do you want?” she asks as her eyes search the room, not entirely sure where to settle.

“Oh, relax, sweetheart.” The second wave hits Beth as he jumps off the counter because that voice is one that she hasn’t heard in years.

And the last bit of recognition comes when he walks towards her. He starts to tuck his hands into his jacket pockets. “I just need you to call your lady friends over so we can all have… a little talk.”

_ Rio _ . It’s the eagle tattoo on his neck. She would know it anywhere and she hopes that her surprise will just be considered a reaction to the situation because he doesn’t seem to recognise her. It’s been years since she saw him, hell, she was still pregnant with Kenny at the time and so she decides to hold back on revealing who she is. 

“About what?”

Although there seems to be the hint of a smile on his face, he really doesn’t seem to know who she is. It would hurt if she wasn’t so preoccupied with the two men, their guns in hand, standing close behind him. “Oh, about the money you stole from us.”

And just…  _ Shit _ . She just stares at him because seeing him in her kitchen, after all these years, she never would have thought it would be for this. Of all the money she could have stolen, it had to be his. He raises a brow because of course, she’s still staring. It’s not exactly how she saw their reunion, she always figured - well,  _ hoped _ \- it would be a much happier affair. Even after all the pain, some ridiculous part of her still wanted that. This was far from it and she simply nods before stooping to retrieve her handbag.

When she stands back up, there are guns on her so Beth holds her handbag out and Rio reaches in, pulls her phone out and hands it over. She knows she’ll just panic if she calls them so she quickly types a text that just says: “911. My house. Now.” and shows it to Rio as she sends it to both Annie and Ruby. Within seconds they’ve both responded and she shows the replies to prove that they’re on their way. Rio seems happy enough because he has no issue with wandering back over to the island counter and leaning back against it.

He picks up his gun and motions for Beth to sit on the bench by the side door. As she does so, he motions to his boys to clear up the groceries. If he wasn’t holding a gun and she hadn’t of robbed him, Beth might have found the entire thing kind of sweet.

* * *

They’re not sat in silence for very long before the side door opens. “Hey, what’s this 911-” But Ruby freezes at the sight of the men and their guns. She’s halfway through the door, her hand still on the door handle and Annie runs right into the back of her. “Hey! What’s going on?”

Ruby steps further into the room and when Annie peers round to have a look, she also freezes. Both women slowly turn to Beth and she motions for them to join her on the bench. Ruby sits beside her while Annie perches on her other side, sitting on the arm of the bench.

“What’s going on?” Ruby asks quietly.

It’s more to Beth but Rio is the one that answers. “You ladies stole a lot of money from me.” He doesn’t wait for them to respond as he wanders towards the stove. “You know, you’ve got a nice kitchen.”

“Thank you,” Beth says quietly because she’s not quite sure what else to say.

“Yo, this backsplash is dope,” he says as it catches his eye and he stoops down to examine it a little closer. “Hey, what’s it made out of? Marble?” He nods his head a little in their direction but all Beth can focus on is how tense she feels and how messed up the entire situation is. It’s exactly the type of thing Rio would ask but the circumstances surrounding their interaction are throwing her. “Yo, you ever get any problems with staining back here? Like, if you’re cooking a big pot of spaghetti sauce or something like that?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

“No?” He chuckles and turns back to look over the wall again.

“We didn’t know you owned the store,” Ruby says.

Rio turns and laughs a little as he begins to walk towards them. “I look like some kind of grocery store manager to you? Or, like, rotary club or something?” He doesn’t and even if he did, Beth already knows he would never. In the years that they had known each other, he always seemed to have big plans that definitely outweighed being a store manager and she always knew that he was the type of person to follow through on things. He stops in front of them and Beth’s eyes are on his because he really hasn’t changed. The more she looks at him, the more familiar he is. “Nah, let’s just say we got certain arrangements with some local businesses. And we help each other out and whatnot, you know?”

“Like money laundering for drugs?” Ruby asks before turning to Beth and Annie. “I told you it was shady.”

He turns and walks away from them. “Why don’t you stop worrying about my business dealings and start figuring how you’re gonna pay me my money back.”

“We can get it back,” Beth says instantly even if she is only somewhat confident, knowing full well that if he’s put his mind to getting his money back, he won’t give up. With that gun of his, she’s pretty sure it’ll end with the three of them dead or wishing they were.

Rio laughs, nods his head a little at them. “Oh, that would be gre at.”

“Most of it,” Annie says.

He blinks. “Sorry, what?”

“Some of it for sure,” she stammers out. Beth and Ruby both look towards her as Rio chuckles. “Oh, what, like you guys didn’t spend a dime?”

“How much, Annie?” Beth asks in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know. I probably spent like a hundred… Grand.”

“What?” Beth and Ruby hiss before the latter adds, “I’m gonna shoot you myself.”

“Nah,” Rio says loudly, grabbing their attention. “You’re just gonna pay me back is all. I mean, right quick too.” He shrugs his shoulders and he’s smiling but there’s nothing friendly about it. “With interest.”

As the two men move to walk towards them, all three women gasp and hold each other’s hands. While their guns are still on display, the men just walk right past them, being sure to make eye contact the entire time.

“So, we’ll see you real soon, yeah?” Rio asks as he follows on behind but then he pauses and casually points the gun back in their general direction. “You know… You’ve really got to be careful, ladies.” Beth closes her eyes a little as the gun gets closer to her face. “I mean, citrus on marble, like lemon and whatnot, that stuff will erode like crazy.”

And it’s just the kind of random trivia that Rio would know, only nothing is ever really random with him. When he retracts his gun and heads towards the front door, Beth stares after him, her mind racing. She realises what really bothers her about the whole situation. While she hadn’t recognised him straight away, he really hadn’t changed much at all and it didn’t take long before it hit her. She didn’t think she had changed much either but he didn’t seem to recognise her at all. And even if he did, he was  _ acting _ as if they had never met. He had always been good at hiding his emotions but she at least expected a flash of recognition. It gnaws away at her and it doesn’t help that he simply laughs as he leaves through the front door.

* * *

_ It was rare that Beth got a spare moment to herself but when the opportunity presented itself one Saturday night, she took it and found herself alone at the park. It was one of the smaller ones and every time she had passed it, it was empty. That night seemed to be no different but as she laid back on the table part of the picnic bench, a voice startled her. _

_ “Probably not the best place to pass out.” _

_ She opened one eye and tried to ignore the fast beating of her heart as she peered at the source of the voice. “I’m not going to pass out.” _

_ “Sure, sure.” _

_ Beth sat up and shuffled to the end until her legs are dangling off the edge of the picnic table. The boy before her couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. He dressed all in black and he had his hood up. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans and he rocked back and forth on his heel. _

_ “Can I help you with something?” _

_ He shrugged. “Never seen you around here before.” _

_ “First time.” _

_ “So hanging around in parks late at night ain’t your usual thing, huh?” _

_ “Why? Am I stealing your spot?” _

_ He laughed at that. “Nah. I just pass through sometimes. Saw some girl I didn’t recognise draped over the table, figured I better ask what’s up.” _

_ Beth rolled her eyes. “Isn’t it past your bedtime or something?” _

_ “Funny,” he muttered. _

_ “I mean, come on, you’ve got to be what? Twelve?” _

_ Suddenly, he was back to being calm again. He shrugged. “Thirteen. And while we’re in the neighbourhood of giving out information…” He moved to stand in front of her, a few steps between them. “Rio.” _

_ “Beth,” she supplied after a moment of consideration. _

_ “Short for anything?” _

_ “Elizabeth but no one calls me that.” _

_ “Elizabeth,” he said, testing it out as a smile forms. “I like it. Suits you.” _

That night at the park had stretched out for a surprisingly long time. They sat together at the picnic bench and talked some. He asked her a little about high school, mentioning that they would most likely be going to the same school. They did. Although she was a senior when he finally became a freshman. It didn’t stop them from running into each other and talking and generally just getting to know each other. There were some large times gaps between their run-ins but it was always as if no time had passed at all as they eased into conversation. That year they went to school together was the most they talked and saw of each other and during that time they became closer, making sure to see each other as much as possible.

The memories of it all flooded her but Beth managed to hold it back, knowing she had to concentrate on getting the money together. It hasn’t been easy and she stands in Annie’s apartment, a glass of bourbon in hand, while the money is slowly counted.

She swallows a mouthful of her drink. “Where we at?”

“Short,” Ruby says as she makes a note of the current total.

“By how much?”

“Over sixty grand.”

Beth sighs and puts her head back. She moves a little, already feeling the effects of the bourbon but it’s not enough. She fixes a look on Ruby who turns her attention to Annie.

“What about the car?”

“I took it back,” Annie says defensively before trying to make light of the situation. “Lost over half its value B-T-dubs.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have bought it in the first place.”

“My, what a helpful contribution. Let me just grab my time machine!”

“Oh my God,” Ruby says as she looks to Beth. “We should just go to the police.”

“Wait.  _ What _ ?” Annie asks in disbelief as Beth’s eyes go wide at the suggestion.

“We haven’t done anything that bad yet,” Ruby says as Beth wanders over. “We don’t have records.”

“Uh, yes. Now we do!” Annie points out.

Beth knows that it definitely won’t go down well. Annie’s right. They robbed a grocery store. With guns and okay, they were fake, but still,  _ guns _ . There’s no way to keep that under wraps. She might be doubting herself when it comes to Rio but Beth is fairly confident that if going to the police fails, it’ll only put them in more danger around him. There’s no easy way out of it, they have to get his money back. Beth turns away from them as they continue to hash it out.

“If we explain to them that-”

“Explain what, that we meant well?” Annie says, interrupting Ruby. “Gee, officer, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to piss off the gang. We just wanted to rob the grocery store!”

The window to mention that she knows Rio doesn’t go undetected by Beth. She’s tempted to tell them but she’s not entirely sure it’ll make much of a difference. Before he showed up in her kitchen, she would have been absolutely confident that she could talk to him, reason with him, but the Rio she knew never would have pointed a gun at her. He never would have… He was just different.

“Okay, I’m just trying not to die, okay?” Ruby says, raising her voice as well. “If you have a better plan-”

“Actually, yes, I do.” But from how loud and frantic her voice is Beth knows that she hasn’t really thought it through that much. “We should take it from somewhere else. We’ll just steal it and then we’ll pay them back and we’ll just put the whole thing to bed.”

“Bitch, are you out of your mind?” Ruby yells.

“It’s the best possible plan!” Annie snaps.

But Beth has had it so she whips back around. She can’t take it anymore. “Enough!  _ Enough _ !” They pause to look at her. “Enough.” She walks closer to them. Screw Rio. If he’s forgotten all about her, fine. If he’s choosing to blackout their past, fine. She can do that too. “We’re gonna get that money. We’re gonna figure it out. Because we are strong and we are resourceful. And we’ve accomplished way harder than this.” She can hear her voice getting louder and she really can’t control it. “I once made 300 damn cupcakes in one night, and they were both nut and gluten-free.”

“The kid still had an allergy attack,” Annie mumbles as she looks down at the contents of her glass.

“And you don’t always have to fact-check me, okay?” Beth yells, pointing a finger at her sister who raises her hands up in defence. She sighs, feeling the tension in her shoulders. She’s fed up and angry and just wants the whole thing to be done with. “I’m gonna take a shower. I smell like booze and crime.”

Beth snatches up her bag and doesn’t even wait for a response before she’s leaving the room, taking her glass with her. She drinks from it while she turns on the shower and gathers what she needs. When it’s done, she puts the glass to one side and strips down until she’s completely bare. She stands in front of the mirror which is already steaming up and wipes it away so she can see her reflection.

She hates how much the whole thing bothers her. There had been a time when Rio meant everything to her and she had been confident that she meant something to him as well. Had she really meant so little to him that he could so easily forget or push it all from his mind when they finally saw one another again? It wasn’t worth going over and over, she decides in the end, and instead, climbs under the spray, letting the water hit her face.

_ It was the second week of the new school year and Beth wandered outside for some fresh air instead of grabbing some food. She had slipped through one of the side entrances, near the parking lot where she knew it would be much quieter but as the door shut behind her, she heard yelling. Her eyes immediately found a group of boys not too far away. One of them was Rio and it wasn’t hard to spot that he was going to get into a fight with three older boys. This was only his second week of high school and she couldn’t sit back and watch him get into a fight, especially not this early on. _

_ Rio got in a good kick between the legs of one of the boys who fell immediately to the ground. As the other two moved in, Beth noticed the skateboard. It must have belonged to one of them but it had rolled away a little. She swiftly moved towards it and picked it up. One of the boys grabbed Rio and she knew she had to act quickly. With only minor hesitation, she walked right up to the other boy. Luckily he was smallest of the group, even smaller than her, so when she swung and hit him in the back of the legs with the skateboard, he toppled over. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him and his friend looked over. Rio took the opportunity to slam his foot down on the boy’s toes before ramming his elbow into the boy’s gut. As soon as he was free, he ran towards Beth and grabbed her hand. _

_ “Come on!” _

_ She dropped the skateboard as he pulled her away and together they ran around the side of the building. As they got closer to a crowd of students they slowed to a walk. He quickly let go of her hand but she still followed him as they reached the front of the school and took a seat on the front steps. _

_ “I could have handled it,” he said. “But thanks.” _

_ She rolled her eyes. “There’s no way you could have handled three against one. What was that even about anyway?” _

_ “Something.” And she could tell by his tone that he had no plans to elaborate. “Why’d you come to my rescue anyway?” _

_ “Thought you could’ve handled it?” He narrowed his eyes at her and she simply smiled. “You’ve not long started here and I didn’t think it would be good if you got suspended for fighting.” _

_ “Ah, so you’re worried about my education, yeah?” _

_ “Maybe it’s not my place but we talk a lot when we get the chance and I know you’re smart. You could probably teach half of those teachers but getting suspended still wouldn’t be good.” She shrugged at his raised brow. “I also didn’t want you to get the shit beaten out of you.” _

_ He grinned. “So, what, does that mean we’re friends?” _

_ “I suppose it does mean that,” she said and it was impossible to hide her own smile. _

_ He nodded his head a little before looking down a the ground. He seemed to be lost in thought but after a few moments, he looked back at her. He held his fist out. “For real though, I could’ve handled it, but I’m glad you stepped in.” _

_ She bumped her fist against his. “Yeah, well, don’t make a habit of getting into fights where you’re outnumbered. I won’t always be there with a skateboard to help.” _

_ Rio chuckled as he got up and before he headed back into the school he said, “hey, sweetheart, who’s to say I’m gonna be the one getting into trouble next time?” _


	2. The Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** The girls try and fail to get Rio his money back.
> 
>  **Past:** Beth realises that Rio is up to no good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kindness in the comments of the first chapter. I honestly appreciate it more than you know.
> 
> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

In retrospect, hitting Boomer over the head with a bottle of bourbon probably wasn’t the smartest idea. Granted, there wasn’t much else Beth could do when he was yelling about turning them in and it wasn’t her fault he tripped and fell into the coffee table afterwards but it became increasingly difficult to tell herself those things when she and Annie had to get him up into the kids’ treehouse and tie him up. Even stood with Ruby and Annie, looking down at their most recent development, she had been amazed at how quickly everything had turned to disaster.

In the end, she pushed Boomer from her mind. Rio was their biggest problem. What he might do to them if they didn’t deliver his money seemed far more pressing than Boomer going to the cops. The walls were really closing in and Annie had tried to get money out of Greg and somehow when that didn’t work out, it turned into them robbing an old lady. Although they had technically found the means to pay Rio back, the fact that they didn’t have the cash in hand was sure to be a problem. Beth could feel the nervous laughter sitting deep inside of her and it doesn’t lessen any, in fact, it just gets worse, especially when Rio and his boys actually show up.

It’s not like she hasn’t seen him with a gun before but back then it had been a lot easier to bury her head in the sand after a while and pretend like he didn’t use it or might have even gotten rid of it. Even when she  _ knew, _ it was still easy to live like she didn’t. Now, after all these years, there’s no hiding from the fact that he’s probably used one. He’s far too confident with it.

_ Beth drummed her fingers against the table of the picnic bench. She had her head propped up on her other hand as she waited. It was the fourth night in a row that she had gone to the park after work to see if he would show. She knew he would be busy with it being his senior year and with God knows what else going on his life - dangerous stuff she was sure although he was insistent he could never tell her - but it had been a couple of weeks since she saw him properly. He had been so tired and irritated when he showed up at her house and while his absence wasn’t exactly unusual, it didn’t stop her from worrying. _

_ She had been busy herself. Working long hours bagging groceries and helping customers who had subpar manners at best wasn’t really her ideal and in the last few days especially, she had noticed Rio’s absence even more. She would be happy to have just another one of their fleeting interactions that often occurred when she had to rush home to see Annie or when he had to run to hand whatever it was he had to deal with that night. _

_ “Gonna drum a hole into that table.” _

_ “Rio,” she breathed out as she looked over her shoulder. _

_ He stopped not too far away from her and like usual he had his hood up in that half on, half off fashion and his hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans. “The one and only. Been waiting long, sweetheart?” _

_ She pulled her legs out and swung around on the bench so she could face him properly. When it became abundantly clear that he wasn’t going to come any closer, she stood up and walked towards him. For a half a second it looked like he might retreat but then it seemed to pass and he remained where he was. _

_ “I was worried.” _

_ “About me?” He smirked. “I’m flattered.” _

_ “It’s not funny,” Beth said and she couldn’t help the way she frowned. “You were so off the last time I saw you.” _

_ He tilted his head a little to get a better look at her face as she glanced down at the ground. “I’m alright. Just been busy. Didn’t realise how long it had been since I swung by.” _

_ She shrugged, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal as she looked back up at him. Still, she couldn’t help but reiterate, “I was worried.” _

_ Rio stepped closer to her and reached out to take hold of her jacket. He rolled the zip between his finger and thumb for a moment before taking a tighter grip and tugging her towards him. It was surprisingly gentle, not that it mattered, she stepped forward willingly anyway. He only let go when she was right in his space and he could wrap his arms around her shoulders in a tight hug. _

_ Beth tucked her head underneath his chin, her arms wrapping tightly around his middle. It felt good to know that he was there, that he was safe but then she felt it. Something hard sticking out of the back of his waistband but before she had a chance to really get a feel for it, Rio jumped back from her. _

_ “What was that?” she demanded, trying to reach around him but he just stepped further away. _

_ “Nothing, just leave it.” _

_ “It didn’t feel like nothing.” _

_ “Forget about it,” he snapped. “I gotta go.” _

_ He turned suddenly and began to walk away. Beth took the opportunity to rush after him and grabbed the back of his hoodie. She gripped so hard that she got fistfuls of his t-shirt as well and she managed to yank them both up. It wasn’t for very long but it was enough time to spot the slither of silver and she knew instantly what it was. _

_ “Is that… Is that a gun?” When he whipped back around he was glaring at her and if she didn’t know better, she might have cowered away from him. Her next words came out shaky and unsure. “Rio? What’s going on?” _

_ His eyes are softer suddenly, pleading almost. “Please, just leave it.” _

_ “Are you going to use it?” _

_ He glanced around before pulling it out. Beth couldn’t help the way she took an automatic step back but if Rio noticed, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he released the cylinder and showed her that there were no bullets in any of the slots. _

_ “It’s not even loaded,” he told her, knocking the cylinder back into place and putting the gun back into his waistband. “I’m just holding it for someone.” _

_ Part of her doubted that. Why not just leave it somewhere? Why carry it? But she didn’t press it, she couldn’t. Her heart was in her mouth and her stomach was twisted so tight she thought she might be sick. _

_ “You could get hurt.” _

_ “I’m not yours to worry about.” _

_ “Well, you don’t get to decide who I worry about,” she snapped, anger rising up inside of her then and pushing the fear to one side. “Whether you like it or not, I do care. It doesn’t matter how much you push away.” _

_ Rio sighed, running a hand over his face. He peered at her between his fingers before he finally closed the gap between them again. His hands landed on her shoulders first before running down her arms to take a hold of her hands. She squeezed them and he returned the action. _

_ “Mama, I’m fine,” he told her. “It’s just complicated, alright? And it’s best you stay out of it.” _

_ “I don’t know what I’d do if-” _

_ “Don’t.” _

_ She closed her eyes and he brought her hands up to his lips, kissing the back of them. The next moment he had let go and when Beth opened her eyes, he was already so far away that there would be no point in trying to catch up to him. _

It hits her when Rio sits, waiting for the money to be counted, that he’s never been in her house, having left before she moved in. Her mind becomes lost in the thought. It’s silly really. She’s not entirely sure how she went from the memory of seeing him with a gun for the first time to whether or not he would have come to her house warming party, but it happens nonetheless.

Now she thinks about it, he and Dean have only ever crossed paths once and it doesn’t escape her that it was kind of deliberate on her part. She never really could explain it. Beth had been strictly private on how close they really were. It was selfish and she couldn’t explain it really but Rio was something separate. Their relationship was something that was purely hers.

It’s Rio approaching the table that pulls her from her thoughts and she can tell he’s not impressed as he draws closer but she holds her tongue. He glances her way but his attention actually falls on Annie as he points out that they’re short. In reality, Rio is a smart guy and Beth is sure that hasn’t changed but as Annie reveals the box of figurines, she begins to doubt that he’ll see the value in them. Even she and Ruby had doubted how useful they would be, why should he feel any different?

It starts when Rio glances her way and says, “I'm done playing with you guys.” But the fear doesn’t really start to settle in until his boys are smashing up her house and the realisation hits her that this could be it, that they really are going to die because they decided to rob a damn grocery store and she choked on robbing an old lady of actual cash. And all she can do as one of the men presses a gun to her temple is close her eyes and hold her breath and try her best not to panic.

This is her opportunity to bring up their past, Beth knows that. If he remembers it could strike a chord that’ll save their lives but then what’s to say that he hasn’t already remembered and simply doesn’t care? He’s in the other room, tapping away at his phone, not even sparing them a second look. Whether he remembers or not, he just does not care at all. He’s so calm and unbothered by what is going to happen next and it makes just enough anger bubble up inside of Beth to push that fear aside and speak.

“You're an idiot.”

“Beth!” Annie hisses but she ignores her sister because she’s absolutely sure that she’s not just going to sit there and let one of his boys pull the trigger without putting up a bit of a fight.

“What, are you gonna blow our brains out all over the room?” she asks but he doesn’t even look up from his phone. “'Cause that's how it works, right? Someone shorts you, and they get tossed out like trash? And no one cares, and no one even notices. Your problem this time is that's not us. We're normal people.”

Rio finally looks up at that, eyebrows raised a little and Beth notices the way his eyes glance briefly at the man holding the gun. If she wasn’t so aware of the metal pressed against her head she might have smiled because she knows that now she has his attention, he’s all ears and he’ll actually take on board what she’s saying. It’s just a case of whether or not it’ll have the desired impact.

“We pay our taxes and we take our kids to P.F. Chang's, and we take orange slices to soccer games.” She swallows and takes a second because she can’t afford to lose her cool now. “And when bad things happen to good people, everyone else goes crazy.” He looks her up and down. “It's all over the news. And there are all these hashtags and movements because if it could happen to us, it could happen to anyone. So if you wanna invite all that attention… over a few grand,” his face softens a little in a way that she knows it does before he smiles but the smile never comes, “then you're not the smart businessman you think you are.”

Beth pauses because she knows the next part of her little speech is her biggest risk.

“Now, roll the dice. Tell him to pull the trigger.” He’s still watching her, eyes blinking softly, face blank but she can still see the hint of amusement that lies just beneath the surface. “See what happens.”

Annie and Ruby are crying to the side of her and Beth can feel her confidence start to slip because this really is it. Her entire body feels like it’s shaking and the tension is rising up and it feels like she might combust at any moment. She’s not entirely sure if what she says has hit home but Rio is still looking at her. He only glances away from the briefest of moments to shake his head and then suddenly the gun is no longer pressed to the side of her head. Finally, there’s a hint of a smile as he licks his lips and stands up.

Beth lets out a breath as he and his boys move to leave - “Sweet Jesus” - but her breath catches all over again as Rio pauses on his way out and looks back over his shoulder. He catches her eye and it’s like being rooted to the spot. His boys leave but instead, he turns around and comes back towards her. Ruby and Annie continue to cling to each other, eyes wide but he pays them no attention as he walks right up to Beth and crouches down in front of her, leaving little to no space, and places a hand on the table to steady himself.

When he looks up at her, he tilts his head to the side a little with his lips parted ever so slightly and if she hadn’t just talked her way out of a bullet to the brain, she might have smiled because it’s such a Rio thing and she’s missed it. Luckily the remaining tension in her body is stopping her from moving, halts the temptation to reach out to touch his face because he’s so close and it’s been so long.

And there it is, that familiar smirk and like a punch to the gut, he says, “Hello, Elizabeth.”

From the way he licks his lips as he looks away for a moment, she knows her eyes have given away her surprise. She can’t catch her breath for an entirely different reason now.  _ He remembered _ . She wonders if he’s known all along and she wants to ask but then he’s looking at her. His face is blank as his eyes roam over her. And she sees it in the amusement dancing in his eyes and the hint of a smile that tugs at the corners of his mouth, that he’s remembered her all along.

“Been a long time, huh?” But she doesn’t respond. She can’t. There’s barely a beat before he laughs. “I’ll see you soon to talk about paying me back.”

Without waiting for any kind of response, he stands. He stays there for a second, looking down at her and of course, her eyes are on his because he remembers and she can’t let that go. Not even as he turns and walks away.

* * *

Annie scoffs. “I can’t believe you know him!”

They’re doing their best to tidy up the house. Beth knows it needs to be done before Dean or the kids get home but she also just wants an excuse to keep busy. There had been a few moments of brief silence after Rio had left before both Annie and Ruby erupted into questions that came so fast and hard that there was no time for Beth to actually answer any of them. She knew there would be a lot of questions and she’s still not entirely sure if she wants to provide any answers.

“Does it even matter?”

“Yes!” Annie snaps. “It could have bought us some time!”

“I hate to agree,” Ruby says. “But she is right.”

“I’m glad your badass speech saved us, sis, but we could have stopped it from getting to that point.”

Beth sits down on the bench while both Annie and Ruby stand at the far side of the island counter. “I didn’t think he remembered me,” she admits. “If I thought he did, I might have said something but there was…  _ Nothing _ .”

“Well,  _ Elizabeth _ ,” Annie says, “it turns out he did recognise you.”

“I’m sorry, alright?” She looks between them. “And plus, if he did, in fact, remember me before now, it clearly didn’t matter so it probably wouldn’t have made any difference, right?”

Ruby sighs and shares a look with Annie. “She’s got a point.”

For a moment it doesn’t look like Annie is going to relent but then she rolls her eyes a little and leans on the counter. “So, how do you even know…?”

“Rio,” Beth supplies. “And we met when we were teenagers. He was like thirteen, I was sixteen.” She glances at Ruby. “You actually met him a couple of times during our senior year.”

Ruby’s brow furrows as she thinks back and then it seems to hit her. “Yeah, yeah, that freshman kid. I remember it being weird because he was the only person to call you Elizabeth.”

She shrugs, eyes darting down. “He always said it suited me.”

“Other than the tattoos, he hasn’t changed,” Ruby muses. “Didn’t he wear his hoodie with the hood in that stupid half on, half off way?”

“Oh. You mean that guy who was always climbing in through your bedroom window?”

Beth gapes at Annie. “How… How did you know about that?”

“I could hear you talking when I walked past your room and I never heard anyone knocking on the door or you unlocking it… The window seemed the next logical answer.” She smiles, finally able to find a bit of amusement in the whole thing. “Plus, I saw him once. It was dark though but he seemed nice?”

“You spoke to him?”

Annie nods. “Briefly. I hung out my window and caught his attention when he left your room. He didn’t say much so at least that hasn’t changed.”

Beth frowns because she wants to believe that he’s still nice and that that hasn’t changed either.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Ruby asks, cutting in and Beth is thankful to be pulled from her thoughts again.

“A couple of months before Kenny was born.” Beth watches carefully as Annie and Ruby share a look. “What?”

“A decade,” Ruby points out. “B, you knew him that long and you didn’t tell us?”

She bites her lip. “It just never came up. I mean, you probably wouldn’t have crossed paths if he didn’t come to our school for that year. It’s really not a big deal.”

“Sis, the way you stared at him when he said your name, I would say it’s a very big deal.”

Annie shrugs a little before turning away to continue cleaning up and Ruby offers up a small smile before doing the same. Had it really been that obvious? Beth supposes it must have been. Her heart has barely slowed down. It had taken her an embarrassingly long time to realise that he wasn’t going to come back after he had walked away all of those years ago. Once she finally gave up waiting for him, she had accumulated everything that reminded her of him and put it into a box that she kept at the back of her underwear draw, confident that Dean nor anyone else would come across it. She hadn’t looked at it since but the fact that the urge swept over her in an overwhelming way made it clear that it was, in fact, a big deal.


	3. A Way Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Rio offers Beth a way out.
> 
>  **Past:** Beth has some news to share with Rio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

It turned out that running around after their accidental hostage was a surprisingly good way for Beth to get her focus off of the man who came crashing back into her life just as brutally and suddenly as he had left it a little over a decade prior. It helped that they finally got the Boomer situation sorted, even if it did mean seeing the unfortunate image of ‘hostage peen’.

Beth even got the TV sorted out which was definitely a much smaller issue but still a victory nonetheless and she was willing to take those wherever she could get them. It had felt like she had been attacked from so many different angles and so she was determined to enjoy when things went right, no matter how small those things might be. It’s an even bigger victory when the next day she’s able to put a movie on for the kids without any hiccups and is greeted with their excited cheers. She could do this. Surviving without Dean would be doable and as soon as he was paid back, Rio would be out of her life once again and everything would be right with the world.

She smiles as she approaches the picnic bench and hears Kenny reading one of the problems from his math homework out loud. The best part was that she didn’t even have to pester him to get on with his work. It really was looking up - a brighter, shinier day - at least until she heard his voice.

“Thirty-six,” Rio says in response to Kenny’s math problem. Beth freezes momentarily and when she moves again, her actions are slower. As she rounds the tree, she sees him sitting there on the table part of the picnic bench, right beside Kenny, looking down at him as he continues speaking. “You know how many she'd have taken if Sam had a gun, though?”

Kenny writes down the answer before looking up at Rio. “How many?”

Rio smiles a little. “Zero.”

“Whoa.”

_ Beth was in her tiny living room, in her tiny one-bedroom apartment, chewing on her nails while she waited for him to show up. The news couldn’t wait until tomorrow, she had kept it secret from everyone except Dean for so long now and he was one of the first people she wanted to tell. It wouldn’t be too long before Dean got home from work and then getting out of the apartment wouldn’t be possible and she didn’t want to do it over the phone. _

_ But then suddenly, like the universe was actually listening to her pleas, there was a knock at the front door. She rushed over to it and peered through the little peephole, sighing with relief before she yanked it open. _

_ “Rio,” she breathed out. _

_ “Hey, mama,” he said, walking in as she stepped aside. “I know I was meant to be here earlier but…” _

_ She spotted him looking towards the bedroom. “He’s still at work.” _

_ “Right, right.” He turned his attention back to her and his jaw moved in that way it does when he’s thinking something over. “He do something?” _

_ Beth frowned. “What do you mean?” _

_ “You’re all…” He motioned generally towards her. “Jittery.” _

_ “I’m not jittery,” she said, waving him off. “And he hasn’t done anything.” _

_ “You sure?” _

_ “Why do you do that?” she demanded because he always did do that. It wasn’t a secret that Rio hated Dean. He had always been sceptical and didn’t even bother to hide it but when things were finally looking so good for her, Beth had had enough. _

_ He raised a brow. “Do what?” _

_ “Act like…” She fumbled for the right words. “Like he’s always up to no good.” _

_ “‘Cause he probably is,” Rio said as if it were obvious. “He never seemed trustworthy to me.” _

_ “Oh, and you are?” she snapped. _

_ Rio narrowed his eyes at her a little before he ultimately shook his head and turned back towards the front door. She watched as he headed over to it and for a moment she considered letting him go but then, at the last possible second, she rushed forward and grabbed his arm because she knew it could take ages for them both to cool off if he left and she wanted him to know now. He didn’t turn around but he did stop moving. _

_ “You have to stop talking about him like that,” Beth whispered. “At least in front of me.” _

_ “Just looking out for ya,” he said and a part of her already knew that. “I don’t like him.” _

_ “Please just try,” she pleaded. “Because…” _

_ As she let go of him, Rio looked over his shoulder at her. “‘Cause?” _

_ “I’m pregnant,” she told him softly. “I told you that he and I were trying and well, I wanted you to be one of the first to know that it finally worked out. And I know you don’t like-” _

_ But he cut her off when he turned around and pulled her into a hug, lifting her off the ground. She laughed as he spun her around and set her back down. Her hands rested on his shoulders while his arms remained around her waist. _

_ “For real?” _

_ Beth bit her lip and nodded. “I actually thought you wouldn’t be happy.” _

_ “‘Cause I think Dean’s a dumbass?” She narrowed her eyes at him but he waved her off. “Right, right. I’ll work on it but this is great.” _

_ “You think so?” She couldn’t help the way her smile turned into a full-blown grin. _

_ “Yeah, Ma, I know how much you’ve wanted this.” He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “And I might not want kids but I get it.” _

_ “I really want this,” she told him. _

_ He pulled her in for a hug, a much softer one this time, and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I know.” _

_ “I had my twelve-week scan yesterday,” she said, voice slightly muffled as she snuggled tightly against his chest. “I couldn’t wait to tell you.” _

_ He leaned back just enough to see her face. “A baby, huh?” _

_ “Yup.” She rested her chin against his chest as she titled her head back to look up at him. “You’re going to be around, right?” _

_ “Yeah, forever. You know that.” _

_ Beth hummed a little as she closed her eyes. “Good. I really need you, y’know?” _

It’s like the past colliding with the present as she watches Kenny and Rio sitting side by side. The way the latter holds that slightly affectionate smile as he does something so mundane as helping her child with his homework, the same child she had been so anxious to tell him about. The one she had been so excited about but so scared about. The one she was heavily pregnant with when he decided to leave.

“Kenny,” she says loudly, catching their attention. "Go inside.”

“I don’t wanna,” Kenny complains.

“ _ Now _ .”

“But your friend's helping me,” he argues, indicating Rio with his pencil.

That’s when she catches Rio’s amused look and she’s not sure if it’s because he doesn’t remember every detail of their past like she does or if he simply doesn’t care. He has to know, she thinks. How much it would hurt her to see how effortless it is for him to be around Kenny when it had been so easy for him to just leave her like that. “Stop with the homework and go inside and watch TV,” she demands, motioning towards the door. “ _ Now _ .”

And the poor kid looks so confused, half up from his seat but not quite moving until Rio says, “listen to Mama, Kenny.” It’s then that he finally gets up properly and goes inside, Beth moving to step between the two of them as soon as she can.

Rio’s got a look on his face that she can’t quite decipher as he walks towards her but then he simply says, “you know you should really get him a tutor, right?”

_ Screw him _ , she thinks because a decade ago she would have welcomed his advice in a heartbeat but now she just wants to hit him because he has no right.

“You want the rest of the money?” she asks. “We'll get it.”

“Nah, let's forget all that.”

“Then why are you here?” And she hates that a small part of her hopes that he’s there to discuss them because she’s done, she really is. The sooner he leaves, the better it’ll be for everyone, but it’s tempting after all this time. To talk. To know. To understand. To  _ try _ at least.

He looks away for a moment before stepping right up to her. “I keep thinking about what you said. About being a basic bitch and whatnot.”

“That's not exactly what I said-”

But he cuts her off and he’s not looking at her when he speaks next. “Maybe there's something you could help me out with.”

Curiosity gets the better of her and she tries to play it cool as she asks, “what’s that?”

“You ladies got passports?”

The dread hits her then because that could lead to anything and all of the possibilities coming to mind are far from good. “Passports?”

“Yeah, you got them or what?”

“I mean, depending on if Annie’s is still in date… Yeah.”

“I need you to pick something up for me in Canada.” He must clock the way her head begins to shake no because he keeps talking. “It’s simple.”

“What is it?” she asks wearily because it really doesn’t sound like she has much of a choice.

“Best you don’t know.”

And he’s not wrong. For the first time in her life, Beth is actually looking forward to the day that she’ll never have to see him again. The less involved she gets, the better and maybe this could be her way of getting out. “If you’re not going to tell me what it is, at least tell me why I should do it.”

“Your debt to me will be wiped.”

She lets out a breath, nodding her head a little. “When will we need to do it?”

“Friday.” He holds his hand out. “Where’s your phone?” Beth slowly pulls it out of her back pocket and unlocks it before handing it over. He scrolls through and taps away at it before handing it back. A second later he reaches into his own pocket to pull out his phone, checking it. “I’ll text you the details.”

“And that’s really it?” Because she’s not sure if she can take if it’s not. “We’re good if we do this job?”

Rio looks her up and down for a moment as if he’s contemplating his next words. “Yeah, we’ll be good.” He turns around to leave but then pauses, glancing at her over his shoulder. “He might not be great at math but he turned out alright.”

She sucks in a breath before deciding to bite back a little. “You would have known that already if you’d stuck around.”

He chews on his bottom lip and nods a little as he faces away from her again. “Yeah, I guess I would have. Things worked out though, yeah?”

When she doesn’t say anything, he turns back to her and raises a brow. “I’m not going to answer that.” He doesn’t deserve an answer. She wants to let him wonder how good or bad things were after he left. She hopes it bothers him. “You should go.”

For a second, it’s like he’s going to argue but then he nods. “I’ll text you.”

Beth just gives him a slight nod before he finally begins to walk away. She manages to stop herself from crying until he’s out of sight and once she starts, it seems impossible to stop.


	4. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** The aftermath of the previous chapter and Beth opening up her memory box.
> 
>  **Past:** Rio makes Beth a promise and Beth realises something that could change the way she sees Rio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

Beth takes a few minutes to steady her breathing and wipe away her tears before she enters the house again. None of the kids look up from the TV - even Kenny who had been so against coming inside. She watches all four of them, completely glued to the movie that they’ve seen a hundred times over. It makes her smile until her eyes fall specifically on Kenny and suddenly she begins to tear up again. The thing is, Kenny had always reminded her of Rio in a roundabout way. This, surprisingly enough, was the first time it actually made her cry. She blinks against the tears in an attempt to stop them as she turns away from him to take a deep breath.

Pulling out her phone, she sends a text to both Annie and Ruby - _911, my house after the kids go to bed_ \- and the replies come back almost instantly. Annie, naturally, asking what it’s about instead of just waiting (Beth ignores it) and Ruby saying she’ll be over as soon as she can (which Beth starts to reply to but ends up not bothering). She glances back at the kids to check that they’re still enthralled with their movie before she slips away to her bedroom.

She makes sure the door is firmly shut before she goes over to her underwear draw and pulls out the box that’s hidden at the back of it. Sitting down on her bed, cross-legged, she sets the box down in front of her and just stares at it. It’s all of him, no,  _ them _ . It’s a collection of all of the things that reminded her of him that she could never bring herself to get rid of. Her fingers tentatively touch the edges of the box. She’s been tempted to open it ever since he revealed that he recognised her. Right now, she’s not entirely sure if she should. The thought has crossed her mind that it could simply make things worse, harder somehow.

She opens it anyway.

“Oh,” Beth whispers as she pulls out a folded flyer and unfolds it even though she already knows what it is.

_ Beth heard Rio’s car pull up before she heard his voice yelling for her to get into it. She ignored him and continued her attempts to change the flat tire on her own car. Luckily, she had been able to pull off to the side of the road before it got completely flat. The area was well lit enough that she thought she would be able to do it but then it started to rain heavily and there was the added fact that she had never changed a tire in her life. _

_ “Elizabeth, come on, get in.” He was outside his car and she became somewhat aware of him walking towards her. The flat tire was still secured to the car and she was doing her best to get it off. _

_ “Just give me a minute, I’ve almost-” The wrench slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. She straightened up and kicked the tire in response. “Shit!” _

_ “Whoa, hey, hey.” He grabbed her from behind and pulled her back from the car. “You’re gonna break something.” _

_ “I just wanted to change the damn tire.” _

_ Rio turned her around to face him. “What’s going on?” _

_ “Nothing.” He gave her a sceptical look and she shrugged. “I thought I could do it.” _

_ “Well, it’s too wet out here to do anything,” Rio remarked. “Let’s lock it up and head out. We can pick it up again tomorrow or call someone to come get it.” _

_ Beth ran her hands through her hair, pushing it back from her face. “I don’t want to go home.” _

_ “A’ight,” he said as he looked up and down the street. “How ‘bout we get some food? Wait and see if the rain stops.” _

_ She nodded a little and he reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together. He led the way to a small diner that sat across the road, just a little way up. By the time they got there, they were more than a little soaked through but at least the place was warmer than outside. _

_ The place was pretty much empty, giving them free rein of where they wanted to sit. Still hand in hand, Rio led the way to a booth and only let go when she slid into one side. He sat opposite her and slouched in his seat. He took one menu for himself and slid the other over to her. They didn’t deliberate much on what to order - a large portion of fries to share and two Pepsis - although Beth had tried to deny all of it, stating she wasn’t that hungry, but Rio was having none of it. _

_ “So, you gonna tell me what that was all about?” he asked as he started to pick at the basket of fries. _

_ Beth nibbled on a fry to give her an excuse not to reply straight away. She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to talk about it. In the end, after she finished the fries she’d picked up, Beth settled on telling him what he already knew. “I got a flat tire.” _

_ “I got that much,” he said, watching as she switched to quietly sipped at her drink, deliberately avoiding his eye. “I was talking about you kicking the shit out of it.” _

_ She shrugged, lips still around the edge of the straw when she spoke next. “I was angry.” _

_ “ _ Elizabeth _.” _

_ “Dean’s been working a lot lately,” Beth supplied because she knows that tone. It’s the one Rio always gives her when he’s not messing around. He won’t do anything per se but it was always his way of warning her that their discussion could turn into an argument and she really didn’t feel like having one. “Late nights and whatnot. Ruby’s got her anniversary with Stan and I was lonely so I thought I’d go for a drive.” _

_ “Could’ve called me,” Rio pointed out. _

_ “I knew I’d be disappointed if you were busy again,” she admitted, still refusing to look at him properly. “I was kind of surprised I got a hold of you tonight.” She looked up at him then, suddenly worried. “I didn’t drag you away from anything, did I?’ _

_ “Nah, ma,” he said, waving her off and everything about him softened again. “Plus, even if you did, this was an emergency.” _

_ “I’m sorry-” Beth started to cry. She wanted to apologise for dragging him out so late at night, in the pouring rain, because she got a flat tire but she couldn’t even get that far. _

_ Rio was up from his seat before she could even fully wipe away her tears and sat down on her side of the booth. His arm wrapped around her as he pulled her into his side. “So, I’m guessing you ain’t just upset about a flat tire, yeah?” _

_ “Dean and I talked,” Beth said, sniffling a little. “We’ve been married for a few years now and we’ve been saving up a lot to maybe get a house, move out of our little apartment.” Rio nodded a little, giving her a small smile as if to say ‘carry on’. She breathed out slowly. “And we got to talking about kids.” _

_ “Oh,” Rio breathed. “Uh… How’d that go?” _

_ For a moment his body had tensed but as it relaxed, Beth could feel herself relax a little too. “Well, I don’t know. I mean, of course, I want them at some point but…” _

_ “But?” _

_ And she was thankful he wanted to discuss it. They didn’t always talk about that kind of thing and the last time it had come up, Rio had said kids weren’t really on his radar. For a split second the thought crossed her mind that maybe that had changed for him. _

_ “Annie’s only fifteen and she’s okay at taking care of herself,” Beth explained. “But I’ve practically done the mother thing already and I still kind of am with her, y’know? I don’t know if I’m ready to do it again. At least if I wait until she’s eighteen, I won’t have to worry about her as much. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.” _

_ Rio chuckled. “I think it is but I get it. Wanting to wait, I mean.” _

_ “I don't want to wait too long either,” she added. “But I’m only twenty-five. I don’t need to have a baby yet, right?” _

_ “Nah, mama.” He slouched in his seat a little, his arm flung around her shoulders as she leaned into him. “You got plenty of time and there are other options, yeah?” _

_ Beth nodded because she had actually considered those options. Adoption specifically. Being friends with Ruby and Rio was proof to her that blood didn’t always mean family. Her found family meant just as much. _

_ “We started talking about it because well… Dean and I haven’t been very…  _ Y’know _ for a little while.” Talking with Rio about her and Dean having sex just didn’t sit right with her but she powered through. She really didn’t want to talk to her sister about it and talking to Ruby about something so serious when she’s meant to be celebrating didn’t seem right either. And really, she already told Rio a lot of things. “I was hoping to figure it out but when I brought it up, it kind of got derailed a little and he brought up starting a family.” _

_ “You worried he’s up to something?” _

_ She frowned. “He wouldn’t be, right?” _

_ “Really would be a dumbass if he did.” _

_ She was fairly confident that Dean wasn’t seeing anyone else behind her back, he just wouldn’t do that to her, but she couldn’t help but ask anyway. “You think so?” _

_ Rio scoffed. “Come on, ma. I’m just your friend and I already feel like the luckiest guy in the world. Can’t imagine what it would be like to be married to you.” _

_ As he reached over to grab his drink from the table, she watched him, her eyes slowly scanning over his face. It hit her then how long they had known each other. Almost a decade. To think he had only been thirteen when they first meet. And now there he was, twenty-two years old. _

_ She shook her head, feeling a little silly, and actually snorted at his comment. “ _ Wow _.” _

_ He raised a brow at her but she could see the smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “What?” _

_ “I mean, are you that cheesy with everyone?” she asked, already trying to suppress a smile of her own. _

_ Rio’s eyes narrowed a little and before Beth could say anything more, he tickled her. She yelped and tried to jump out of his grasp but he was far too quick and soon she was twisting and curling away as she laughed. _

_ “Stop, stop,” she managed to get out between gasps. “I’m sorry, okay?” _

_ By the time he stopped, Beth had laughed so hard she was crying. Her hands were rested on his shoulders and he still had a hand at her waist. She leaned into him, trying to catch her breath. She wanted to tell him how cruel that was but when she lifted her head, she caught sight of that signature smirk and her stomach did something it never had before, it began to flip. _

_ “You’re sorry?” Rio asked and she nodded. He looked her up and down. “Good ‘cause it wasn’t just a line.” _

_ Beth tried to swallow the lump in her throat as her heart began to flutter. “No?” _

_ “All truth,” Rio said, drawing a little cross over his heart in a promise. “Seriously. I might call him a dumbass but even he’s gotta be smart enough to know he’s won the lottery.” _

_ “Right.” _

_ She couldn’t really say much more than that. It hadn’t taken long after she met Rio for her to start caring about him. He had quickly become one of the most important people in her life and that hadn’t changed in the last decade, in fact, it had only ever grown stronger. He was her family just as much as Ruby or Annie or even Dean. He was a permeant fixture but for the first time, sat in that random diner thanks to a flat tire, she felt something a lot stronger and it hit her so hard it made her a little breathless. _

_ “Elizabeth?” _

_ Realisation washed over her that at some point she had begun to stare at his lips and her eyes darted up. “Yes?” _

_ Rio motioned with his head to the window behind her. “It stopped raining.” _

_ “Right,” she mumbled, unable to stop the way her eyes briefly darted back to his lips. “That’s good.” _

_ His mouth formed into a tight line and she could see it in his eyes that he was trying to figure something out. Instead, he just got up from the booth. “Come on, let’s see if we can figure this tire out.” _

_ “Yeah,” she agreed softly as she slipped out from the booth. _

_ He turned to walk towards the exit first but Beth quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him back. Before he could do anything, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and clung to him. It took a moment but Rio slowly wrapped his arms around her middle and squeezed her tightly against him. _

_ “Thank you for coming to get me,” she whispered against his neck. _

_ One of his hands gently rubbed at her back and she could feel him nod. “As if I wouldn’t come.” _

_ Before she could say or do anything more, Rio pulled away from her and led the way out of the diner. She tried to push everything down, determined that it was just some blip. It had been an emotional night and she really was feeling tired. She was sure that after she slept, everything would go back to normal. But she couldn’t get the way his mouth had formed into a tight line out of her head, nor his questioning look. She really didn’t want to mess up what they had. _

_ When they got over to where they had left their cars, Rio didn’t even ask before he took her keys and began to change the tire himself. Not that Beth planned to argue. She simply stood there holding a flashlight and watched him change the tire at a rate much faster than she could have possibly managed. _

_ “Is there anything you can’t do?” _

_ When he looked up at her, he had a playful look on his face and she knew they were going to be just fine. “Why? Something you wanna test?” _

_ It was almost instant, the way his words made her blush and she quickly looked away. “Wouldn’t want to embarrass you when I find something you can’t do.” _

_ That made him laugh, hard enough that he had to put his head back. “You think you’d find something, huh?” _

_ “I don’t think,” she said. “I know.” _

_ When Beth finally looked back at him, he was grinning as he finished securing the spare tire to her car. He wiped off his hands and she stood back while he collected everything together and finished up. Clicking the flashlight off, she rolled it between her hands while she waited for him to put everything in the back of the car. _

_ “I feel like we should put that to the test sometime,” Rio commented as he came to stand in front of her. _

_ Beth’s was pressed up against the back passenger door and the proximity of him was making her heart go wild again. She swallowed and forced her eyes to stay on his. “Will we be betting? I think the odds will be in my favour.” _

_ He licked his lips as he began to smile and shook his head. “Wouldn’t want to take all your money.” _

_ Before Beth could say anything, Rio reached to the side and gripped the door handle, opening up the driver’s side door. The light inside the car came on, illuminating his face better. She had no hope of stopping her eyes from travelling over his face then. _

_ “Will you sit with me for a few minutes?” Beth asked because she didn’t want to say goodbye. Dean would be home now and even if she hadn’t pulled him away from anything, she knew Rio would find a way to busy himself if they parted ways. Her chances of finding him at a free moment being low. _

_ “Sure,” he said after a moment. “Ain’t got nowhere to be.” _

_ Beth’s not sure if she believes him, he always seemed to have somewhere to be. It started around the time she got married. Rio would disappear for days at a time, weeks even, and she would never have any idea where he went. It had also become more frequent for her to call him and be told he was too busy to see her. He had always sounded apologetic and even like he regretted it. She did understand but it didn’t stop her from feeling disappointed. _

_ Still, she wasn’t going to question it now. Instead, she nodded and he pushed away from her to go around to the other side of the car. They both slipped inside, shut the doors, and Beth put the heater on it. _

_ “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. _

_ “I did.” _

_ “Before you got the flat,” Rio clarified. “When you was feeling all upset at first.” _

_ Beth shrugged. “I told you. I would have been disappointed if you couldn’t come.” _

_ “I would’ve come.” _

_ She gave him a look. “I know I don’t ask questions when it comes to your…  _ work _ but I know it’s not conventional. You do all sorts of hours and a lot of dangerous things. You can’t just drop any of it for me, especially not just because I’m upset.” _

_ Rio chewed on his bottom lip and she thought that would be the end of it but then he pulled out a flyer Beth had stuffed into the cup holder between the two front seats. Some guy had been handing them out when she was shopping the week previously. It was some sales things although she hadn’t really read it. Not that it seemed to matter because Rio simply turned it over to the plain side and grabbed a pen from her glove compartment. She watched him curiously as he scribbled over it but he was careful not to let her see. _

_ When he was finally done, he held it to his chest and looked at her. “You gotta take this seriously.” _

_ “Well, what is it?” _

_ He shook his head and held the flyer out of reach when she tried to grab it. “Nah, you gotta promise.” _

_ “I’m not going to promise anything without knowing what it is first.” He raised a brow at her and when it became clear he wasn’t going to budge, she groaned, because of course, she had to know now. “Fine. I promise to take it seriously.” _

_ With a triumphant smile, he handed the flyer over. She slowly turned it over and was presented with his handwriting. Her eyes scanned over the words. ‘I, Rio, promise that if Elizabeth ever truly needs me, I’ll do everything I can to be there. Especially if it’s an emergency.’ _

_ She glanced up at him and he shrugged. “Don’t gotta be alone, especially when you’re upset.” _

Staring at the flyer in her hands, Beth’s fingers ghost over his handwriting. She reads it over and over again before pain turns to anger and she balls the flyer up in her hands then throws it across the room where it hits the wall -  _ hard _ \- and bounces back a little before it falls to the ground. She sits there, trying to breathe as she forces herself not to go over and retrieve it. She doesn’t need it anymore. It’s a lie anyway.

Instead, Beth lays back on her bed, the rest of the box abandoned. She falls in and out of sleep, never completely drifting off and only gets out of bed again when she hears Emma calling for her. And this time, when she goes out to see her kids, she does a much better job at pretending she’s fine.


	5. Without Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Beth, Annie, and Ruby get started with their trip to Canada.
> 
>  **Past:** Beth and Rio's final interaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

Having Annie and Ruby sitting in front of her, expectingly waiting to know what the 911 was all about, did enough to finally distract Beth from her constant urge to cry and even bigger urge to throw away everything in her memory box of Rio. All of that, however, was replaced with a growing sense of anxiety because she really needed them to agree to this. Partly because she already had but it was also down to the fact that she needed this all to be over and done with. Going to Canada without them seemed more likely to screw things up and keep her within Rio’s vicinity for far longer than she’s sure she can manage.

She taps her fingers against the side of her cup before she finally decides that it would just be best to rip the bandaid off. “He wants us to pick something up for him in Canada.”

“What?” Annie says, immediately followed by Ruby saying, “I thought we were done with this.”

“He says it's better if we don't know,” Beth says, eyes going to Annie.

“Mmm. Mmm-hmm. I mean, come on…” Annie says like she knows what’s actually going on while Beth and Ruby both look between themselves and then at her expectantly. “Oh, guys,  _ seriously _ ?”

“Just say it,” Beth cuts in because certain thoughts are already starting to crowd her mind on what this job could be.

“Drugs,” Annie supplies. “Up our asses!”

“What?” Ruby asks in disbelief as Beth narrows her eyes a little in confusion.

“Oh, yeah.” And she says it like it’s so obvious which makes Beth raise an eyebrow that slowly turns to shock as her sister keeps talking. “Otherwise you gotta swallow the baggie which, frankly, seems even more uncomfortable. You know, I'd almost rather shove-”

“No,” Ruby says, cutting her off as she throws a defiant look at Beth. “Nuh-uh. That's not gonna happen.”

“Oh, you'd rather just declare a kilo at customs?” Annie asks and the whole back and forth reminds Beth of when they were arguing over how to get the money for Rio.

“I don't wanna smuggle drugs at all!”

“Don't say ‘kilo’.” And Beth knows then that she’s just letting the whole thing get to her and freak her out. Rio wouldn’t be asking her to bring drugs across the border. There’s just no way but then it hits her all over again that she really doesn’t know him and this Rio could very well ask her to smuggle drugs down from Canada. Luckily, Annie speaks again, drawing her thoughts away.

“Okay, when are we supposed to do this?”

“Friday,” Beth says as she brings her cup up to her lips.

“Well, I can’t do Friday,” Annie says suddenly and that makes Beth’s stomach do flips because her sister was meant to be the easier of the two to convince. “I have a home visit for my custody case.”

“So you're gonna tell the man with the crying skull tattoo that Friday doesn't work for you?” And it’s Ruby’s words that make Beth realise that they were always going to go with her and it settles her nerves just a little.

“Fine,” Annie concedes. “But we have to be back in time for me to clean up and get all the drugs out of my cavities.”

“He didn't say it was drugs, you guys,” Beth tries to assure because she really can’t go back to that discussion again. “It… It could be something else, okay?”

“Like, what?”

“Guns?” Beth’s not entirely sure why she says it. She remembers how it felt when she first caught Rio with a gun and the ongoing panic of knowing that he most likely carried his own after that. In the current chaos, for half a second, for some unknown reason, guns seemed better than drugs.

That wild line of thought is quickly squashed when Ruby gives her a disbelieving look. “How is  _ that _ better?”

“Can't fit up your ass,” Annie says and there’s a smile playing at her lips.

Beth can’t even begin to come up with a response when suddenly a little voice grabs her attention. “Mama? I had a nightmare.”

“Same,” Ruby mutters.

“I'm sorry, bubba,” Beth calls, lifting up a little so she can see Emma clearly. “I'll come rub your back, okay?” There’s a sound of agreement and as Beth looks at her daughter she knows that she has to do this job and she needs both Ruby and Annie to be completely on board. “You guys, he said if we do this, he'll forget about the money. And we're done. It's over.”

They both look like they’re taking it in but as Beth walks past them to Emma, Ruby grabs her attention again. “What if we don’t?”

She stares for a moment because she wishes this could all be over without them having to do anything. If she could take back the robbery, she would. It would be far easier but deep down, she knows it’s not the case. Sure she’s eager to do the job in order to cut ties but even if she didn’t care about that, looking back, she doesn’t remember Rio actually asking.

“That didn't seem like an option,” Beth says before finally heading over to Emma and holding her hand out. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go to bed.”

Beth lets Emma lead the way upstairs and once they get to her bedroom, she lets go and runs right over to her bed. She crawls under her covers where she flops down onto her stomach. Beth rolls her eyes, although she can’t help but smile, before going over to tuck her in properly. The side of her face is pressed into the pillow and Carl the bunny is still secured under her arm.

“Mama?” Emma yawns as Beth settles onto the bed beside her and begins to rub her back.

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“What were you talking about?”

“Oh, we…” Beth starts, worried for a moment that Emma might have heard something she shouldn’t have. “It’s just boring, grown-up stuff.”

There must be something in her tone because Emma hugs Carl closer and says, “I can rub your back.”

Beth smiles a little, partly at the offer, partly because it’s clear Emma hadn’t heard anything at all. “That’s very nice. Maybe another time, okay?”

Emma just yawns again and nods a little in agreement. She shifts into a better position before she falls silent. Beth waits, slowly rubbing circles. It’s not long before she’s sure Emma has fallen asleep but she keeps on doing it anyway. It’s calming and it gives her a chance to get out of her head.

And it’s almost like he knows because that’s when she feels her phone vibrating in her back pocket. She stands immediately, pausing ever so briefly to make sure Emma doesn’t stir again before slipping out of the room. When she looks down at her phone, she groans at the sight of his name.

“What?” Beth hisses as she slips away from Emma’s door and heads towards the stairs.

He laughs a little and she hates the way it makes her heart flutter. “Don’t I get a ‘hi’?”

“No,” she says immediately, as cold and cutting as she can manage. “What do you want?”

“Told you I was gonna be in contact.”

“I… Well… Yes, but I thought you’d text or something.”

“Thought about it,” Rio tells her. “Decided to call instead.”

Beth’s beginning to make her way down the stairs and she suddenly becomes aware of the fact that she’ll soon be face to face with Annie and Ruby who will no doubt ask questions. She sighs. “Just hang on a minute, okay?”

She puts the phone to her chest without waiting for a response as she walks down the rest of the way. When she peers over to the kitchen, Annie and Ruby are still sat at the island counter and neither seems to have heard her nor are they looking in her direction. She takes the opportunity then to slip away to her bedroom so she can talk to him in peace.

When her bedroom door clicks shut behind her, she moves over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Alright, so what do you need to tell me?”

“Nah, we got plenty of time for that.”

“You didn’t seem so interested in small talk before,” Beth points out. “You just wanted to mess with me.”

“How’d I mess with you?”

Beth rolls her eyes at his amused tone. “You know you have been.”

There’s a pause. “I don’t know, mama.”

“Don’t,” she whispers hating the way it all makes her feel warm inside. “Just get on with it.  _ Please _ .”

When he speaks again, any trace of amusement is completely gone. “I take it everyone’s onboard then, yeah?”

“Yes.” Although she’s pretty sure that he wouldn’t have taken 'no' for an answer.

He clears his throat a little. “A’ight, write this down.”

* * *

It was still morning and already the day had led to Beth pouring herself a drink as soon as she walked into Annie’s place. How she had put up with Dean the past two and bit decades was beyond her. She wiped the rim of her glass with a tissue while Annie and Ruby discussed where to cross the border and that just made it a whole lot worse. She took a mouthful of her drink. Between her ability to start new accounts in her name being criticised and the upcoming trip to Canada, Beth was already ready for the day to come to an end. Her recent phone call with Rio hadn’t exactly helped matters much either. Taking a breath, she turns to Annie and Ruby and offers them a drink. Only the former accepts.

“So, we have the passports and we have directions,” Annie says, counting it off on her fingers. “Now we just need a car. I would say we could take mine, but it got the boot.”

“How many tickets?” Beth asks as she hands Annie’s drink over.

“Six is apparently the cutoff.” She shrugs a little as she settles back on the couch. “Now we know.”

Ruby talks next before Beth can even come up with a response to that. “Well, Stan needs ours for the kids.”

Beth settles into the armchair across from them. “I don't want a bunch of heroin in my car. I drive my kids in that car.”

“Good point. Could be residue,” Annie says as she puts her feet up on the coffee table.

There’s a brief pause before Ruby says, “we should just borrow a car.”

“Or we could just steal one,” Annie suggests.

Ruby turns to look at her. “Or we could borrow it and bring it back, Bonnie.”

Annie practically roles her eyes as Beth speaks, “from who?”

“'We've got Chevys,’” Annie starts after a brief pause in what Beth can only assume is meant to be an interpretation of Amber and already it makes her want to be swallowed up by the ground. “‘We've got Fords. We've got Chryslers, too.’”

Beth shakes her head. “No.”

Without even pausing, Annie keeps going right along. “‘So come on down to Boland Motors.’” Beth just keeps repeating ‘no’ over and over again because there really is no way in hell she’s doing it. It doesn’t help that Ruby joins Annie - hand movements and all - in the final line of that God awful commercial. “‘And we'll put the vroom, vroom, vroom back in your engine.’”

“I said no,” Beth says, shaking her head and trying to look as determined as possible.

“Oh come, B,” Ruby says, giving her a disbelieving look. “We need a car and Dean’s got a ton of them that you’ve got access to.”

“I don’t have access.” Which isn’t entirely untrue.

Annie scoffs. “But you can get access.”

“Okay, maybe I can,” Beth says, holding her hands up. “But it sounds like a really bad idea.”

“I would much rather take my chances knowing Dean is on our backs for taking a car than the cops,” Ruby says before pointing with her thumb at Annie. “And if we don’t do it, this one will be getting her way.”

“I’ve always wondered what it would be like to steal a car,” Annie says dreamily.

Beth rolls her eyes and downs her drink before she sits back. She tries to hide her face a little behind her glass as she thinks. The dealership might have her last name on it but it still feels like stealing and if Dean found out? She shudders, not even wanting to think about how she’s going to explain it to him. “Alright, fine, but we need to get the car back in one piece.”

Annie happily claps her hands together, almost spilling her drink because she refuses to put it down. “You know, this might actually be fun.”

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” Ruby mutters under her breath.

* * *

At first, it had been fun. Well, taking the car from Boland Motors had been a little stressful but once they actually got it, it was one less thing to worry about. Their car ride had slowly turned into Annie’s awful music playing through the speakers after she hooked her phone up to it and then Ruby and Beth, eventually giving in and singing along to it all.

It was only when they arrive at the actual border that the worry comes back. Ruby turns the music off and Beth's hands involuntarily tighten on the steering wheel. She’s vaguely aware of Annie talking to her about her grip but she doesn’t really take any of it in, too busy scanning the area with her eyes.

“Do they pull you over on the way in?” she asks.

“Well, if they do, it's not like we have anything in the car,” Annie points out. “Duh.”

“I brought Stan's gun.” Any relief Beth might have gained felt quickly disappeared as she and Annie both let out a disbelieving  _ ‘what _ ?’ at almost the exact same time. “Relax, it’s in my purse and it’s not loaded.”

“Why would you do that?” Annie asks.

But Ruby’s response comes out like an echo to Beth as the panic begins to rise up inside of her. She had been so adamant about ending all of this and clearing her debt so she wouldn’t have to see Rio again but she never actually considered how badly it could go. Sure the cops hadn’t arrested them but they had been caught by Rio and his guys for stealing the money. Could they really get across the border with whatever mysterious packages they were meant to pick up?

“It's Canada!” Annie protests to something that Beth hadn’t quite caught. “We’re not meeting El Chapo in Guatemala here!”

“El Chapo's actually Mexico,” Beth says because apparently even in a state of crisis she can’t resist making corrections.

Annie scoffs. “Oh, Jesus, whatever.”

They’re almost at the front of the queue, soon hypotheticals of whether they going to get caught or not won’t matter anymore. The tension inside of Beth is building up too quickly and she throws her hands up a little. “What are we doing, you guys? This is so crazy.”

“Yeah, it is,” Ruby agrees.

“What if we get caught?” she asks because now it really is a genuine fear that won’t leave her alone.

“I mean, it's not like we have a choice, right?”

And while Rio did tell her about the job instead of asking, maybe there was some room, an exception. What would he do? She had already pointed out that he couldn’t kill her because of the outcry and unwanted attention that would bring. Of course, there was the obvious risk that maybe that wouldn’t work a second time around but it was worth a shot, right?

“There's always a choice.” But even Beth doesn’t believe her words.

“And then what?” Annie challenges. “What happens when he shows up again?”

“In front of our kids,” Ruby adds quietly.

“Dude,” Annie says, completely serious. “It's never gonna end.”

“Unless we end it,” Ruby says as Beth drives a little closer.

And what they’re saying does make sense, Beth knows that. She more than anyone wants this job to be successful but she can’t help but say, “tell me to turn around.” They’re almost there now and their chance to go back is disappearing. Desperately, she turns to look at them both. “Please say it. Please, please someone say it.”

They both remain silent and the car behind begins to honk its horn giving Beth no option but to take a breath as she drives forward. As the officer asks for their passports, their opportunity to back out disappears entirely. They could always turn around and go home without getting what Rio sent them there for but Beth knows as she drives through that that won’t happen.

The border disappears from her rearview mirror before she allows herself to fully loosen her grip on the steering wheel and her breathing becomes finally starts to even out. It’s sometime after that before Annie and Ruby seem to readjust as well.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Beth mutters and it is honestly meant to be for herself more than anything.

“Alright.” Annie leans forward so that she’s practically pressed between the two front seats. “You were really asking us to give you an excuse to get out while you’re the one with connections?”

“What does that…” She opens and closes her mouth. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Ruby starts. “That you and him have history.”

“Yeah,” Annie says. “ _ Connections _ .”

Beth gives them both a disbelieving look. “Do you really think if I had connections that we would be doing this job at all?”

Ruby and Annie both share a look that Beth pretends not to notice. It’s the former that speaks. “Well, do you? Have connections?”

“No!”

“Did you, like, break his heart or something?” Annie asks, voice light and teasing before her face twists up a little. “You picked Dean over him, didn’t you?”

“Rio was practically a child when Dean and I got together,” Beth points out. Although it was only a three-year difference and Rio really was very mature for someone so young, the gap had felt much bigger than that for a long time.

“Oh, did he have a crush?”

“He didn’t have a crush,” Beth mutters.

Ruby seems to have caught Beth’s tone because she remains quiet but with Annie, there’s no such luck. Her sister keeps going on about the whole thing and it was this type of thing Beth had been hoping to avoid. She couldn’t do it, go over the past, but Annie’s voice is in her ear, continuing to ask questions about how oddly cute the idea was and why would she pick Dean, and Beth just needs her to _stop_.

“ _He_ broke _my_ heart!” And it’s the silence in the car that tells her how loud she shouted. Taking a breath, she pulls the car over to the side of the road.

“Beth?” Annie asks, voice quiet.  


“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“B,” Ruby says, placing a gentle hand on Beth’s leg. “Maybe you should.”

She runs a hand over her face. “I’ve never told anyone before.”

“Sis, we were mostly kidding but _this_ little freakout.” Annie gives her a sympathetic smile as she gestures vaguely in the air between them. “You should really tell us.”

Beth takes a slow, steady breath. They’re not wrong. For so long she kept it all to herself and over time it had been easier to squash it down. Rio coming back had unearthed all of that. She was a fool to think that she could survive long enough to cut ties again. Now that it was sat there on the surface, Beth could feel the potential for relief right around the corner.

Looking at both of them, she says, “this stays between us. You don’t let it slip to Dean and you don’t let it slip around Rio either.”

“We won’t tell Dean,” Annie promises.

“And after this, we shouldn’t see Rio again,” Ruby points out.

“Rio never knew how I felt, at least I don’t think he did,” Beth explains after a moment's hesitation. “We were friends almost instantly, despite the age gap.” She smiles a little despite herself. “I know three years doesn't sound like a lot but for a long time it was, you know?” They both nod a little but neither of them says anything. “I guess it’s why I always saw him as a kid. My friend, sure, but I loved him like I would love you guys.” She glances at both of them. “Like my family.”

Annie smiles a little and nudges her gently. “So, what happened?”

“Even when he actually stopped being a kid, I just saw him as my friend, but there was this one night.” She takes a breath. “I got a flat tire and he came to get me. It was the first time I felt something around him.”

“When was that?” Ruby asks softly.

“I was about twenty-five,” Beth supplies, trying not to think back on it too much again. “You and Stan were celebrating your anniversary actually.”

Ruby nods her head a little like she’s remembering, as Annie speaks. “When did you _really_ know though?”

“It happened gradually after that,” Beth whispers, playing with one of the buttons from her coat. “I guess I didn’t fully realise until he left.”

“Why did he leave?” Annie asks.

She gives a small, half-shrug. “I have no idea.”

Beth bites her lip, blinking back tears before she can bring herself to look at either of them properly. It was really the not knowing that had made it so hard in the end. The stupidity she felt was one thing but never truly knowing why he was gone had kept her up at night for a long time after. At first, she worried that maybe something had happened to him but for her own sake she had to stop and deep down something told her that he was perfectly fine.

_It took a moment for Beth to fully register the fact that the door to her apartment had opened and closed and even then it didn’t capture her attention enough to make her stop. She was too busy pacing in her tiny kitchen, panicking over the fact that she was due to give birth in less than a month and she didn’t feel ready at all. She had gone over her list several times to make sure she had absolutely everything but even that wasn’t helping._

_“Elizabeth?”_

_And relief flooded her instantly at the realisation that it was Rio and not Dean which only made her feel guilty but she forced herself to push it down as she turned around. “Hi.”_

_He gave her a quizzical look. “Whatcha doing?”_

_“Freaking out.”_

_She wasn’t entirely sure why she admitted it so easily because he gave her a look like he might tell her off which really wouldn’t have been_ that _bizarre but she really didn’t want it to happen. “Ain’t you supposed to be in bed?”_

_Beth rolled her eyes. “You’re just as bad as Dean. Both overreacting.”_

_“Your doctor overreacting too?”_

_“Shit,” she muttered under her breath because he was right and she had been the idiot who had told him she was meant to be on bed rest. “I’m too busy to be in bed.”_

_“Stressin’ don’t help,” Rio pointed out, gesturing vaguely to her bump._

_“Well, thank you, I had no idea,” Beth said, throwing her hands up in the air and when Rio raised a brow she rolled her eyes again. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just…”_

_“Freaking out?” She groaned and when she nodded, her bottom lip was jutting out. “You said you’re sorted.”_

_“I am,” Beth said. “But I’m not ready. I don’t know how I’m going to do this. Annie was one thing but she was walking and talking and everything before I really had to get involved.”_

_“Breathe, ma,” Rio said, closing the gap between them and putting his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed them gently. “You’re ready.”_

_“Nope,” she disagreed, shaking her head._

_“Uh-huh.” He slowly turned her around so she was facing her bedroom. “Now, go lay down. I’ll get some food and stuff.”_

_“Rio, I’m being serious.”_

_“Me too.”_

_Best groaned as he gently nudged her forward and she knew there was no point in arguing. “I want pickles with-”_

_But he cut her off. “I know.”_

_“You’re the best.”_

_She grinned at him over her shoulder before heading towards her bedroom. Although the concern that she wasn’t ready, that she might mess up being a parent, was still there, the thought of food and her bed_ was _appealing. With Rio there, she knew that her panic would eventually subside completely._

_When she got into her room, she shrugged out of the old cardigan she had thrown on earlier and climbed under the covers. Propped up against the headboard, she put her head back and willed herself not to fall asleep. That was what sucked the most about being pregnant, she would feel completely fine but as soon as she settled, she would be out like a light. Determined not to fall asleep while Rio was there (and because she really wanted her pickles), Beth reached over and switched on the old clock radio that sat on her bedside table._

_It crackled a little before a quiet stream of music came through. She hated it really. It lost signal way too easily considering she never touched it while it was on but Dean’s mother had given it to them (one less thing to buy apparently) and so, of course, he refused to get rid of it until they could find the right replacement (which they never did). Still, at that moment, she was actually happy for it._

_After what seemed like a long while, Rio’s voice grabbed her attention. “You still got that piece of shit?”_

_She opened her eyes to see Rio standing in the doorway, eyes on the clock radio. “Uh-huh. Dean refuses to get rid of it.”_

_“I can break it,” he offered. “You could say it was an accident.”_

_“I’m good.” Beth smiled. “It was actually keeping me awake.”_

_“And you said you was fine.”_

_“I_ am _fine.”_

_Rio muttered something under his breath but played all innocent when Beth narrowed her eyes at him. She couldn’t even be mad when he handed over the plate in his hand as a distraction because she actually took it from him, too eager and hungry to delay._

_“That’s an abomination,” Rio commented as he went around to the other side of the bed and settled down beside her._

_Beth tried not to overthink the fact that there was no space between them. She took a moment, trying to swallow the lump in her throat, as she looked him over. He was pressed right up next to her, his body completely relaxed, head back and all. “It’s delicious.”_

_They both looked down at the plate of chocolate-covered pickles and Rio wrinkled his nose a little. “Abomination.”_

_“You haven’t even tried it.”_

_Rio shook his head as Beth picked up one and ate it. “And I won’t. You didn’t even have decent chocolate.”_

_“I’m saving,” she reminded him before eating another._

_“That’s a sign not to eat that.”_

_Beth ate one more before holding another up to him. “Try it. If you really don’t like it, I swear I’ll admit it’s just me that likes them and I’ll also never eat them around you again.”_

_He looked between her and the pickle like it was some kind of trick which it kind of was. They both knew that she would continue to eat them regardless, especially while she was pregnant. Although Beth was sure that her potentially admitting she was wrong would sound appealing to him._

_“Fine,” he said as he carefully took the pickle from her. “But I’m right.”_

_It was then that she noticed his hand. She knew instantly that he had been fighting and while there didn’t seem to be too much damage, it was really the redness that made them look far worse. She wanted to say something but then she noticed that he was still hesitating, pickle in hand, and she couldn’t help but smile._

_He gave another look of disgust before he finally put it into his mouth. Beth just watched with amusement as he chewed, his face slowly turning from disgust to surprise. It was obvious that he was refusing to look at her._

_He swallowed. “I hate you.”_

_“I’m sorry?” Beth said, unable to stop the grin on her face._

_“It ain’t bad,” he mumbled._

_She playfully nudged his arm. “What was that?”_

_He glared at her but there was nothing venomous about it. “It’s good.”_

_“Told you,” Beth said proudly as she continued to eat her pickles. Rio reached out to grab another and she swatted his hand away. “You don’t deserve any more.”_

_“Harsh.” He pouted but she ignored it._

_“I’ve had to put up with you hating on them,” she reminded him. “You don’t deserve these delicious treats.”_

_Rio playfully batted his eyelashes at her and Beth groaned, holding the plate up. “Jesus,_ fine _, take one.” He grinned happily and picked one up, not hesitating to eat it. “But the next time you want some, you better make extra.”_

_“Yes, ma’am.”_

_She elbowed him and he just laughed, swiping another pickle in the process before she could say anything. He grinned at her before popping it into his mouth and chewing. She rolled her eyes and guarded the plate carefully while she ate some more._

_“Are you going to tell me what happened to your hand?” she asked when he started to eye her plate again._

_“Nah.”_

_“I’ll let you have another pickle.” She held the plate away as he tried to reach for them. “But you have to tell me first. I don’t trust you.”_

_He gasped and playfully put a hand to his chest. “You offend me.”_

_“We both know you’ll just eat it and not tell me.” The fact that he smiled told her she was right._

_“A’ight,” he finally conceded. “It’s a… Work thing. Been making some progress with that whole situation but I had to get my hands dirty.”_

_Beth brought the plate closer so he could grab a pickle. “How’s the other guy?”_

_“Alive.” And there was something in his tone that was different._

_She clocked the look on his face before he could hide it. That one he got when he was thinking something over. “I didn’t… That’s not…”_

_He shrugged. “You never asked. Figured you thought the worst.”_

_“I ask…_ Stuff _.” She sighed and handed him the plate. There were only a couple of pickles left and she really wasn’t feeling it anymore. “I just don’t want to know all the little details. I worry too much.”_

_“You worry?”_

_“Well, yeah.” She gave him a look like that was meant to be obvious but he just stared at her, mouth parted slightly, eyes blinking slowly, softly. “I mean, why did you think I stayed away from it all?”_

_“Figured you was judging me.”_

_Beth did her best to twist around enough so she could actually look him in the eye properly without straining her neck too much. “I don’t judge you, Rio.” He raised a brow and she sighed. “Okay, so, I might have judged you at first but that’s only because you were still in high school and you were really good. I assumed you had a lot of options and I shouldn’t have done, alright?” He nodded. “But even back then, I was just worried, like, all the time.”_

_He smiled a little at that. “All the time, huh?”_

_She settled back against the headboard and began to rub her bump a little because the baby decided it was the perfect time to start moving. “Yeah, and I couldn’t handle it. I knew you had access to guns and whatever you were doing was probably illegal. It just… It wasn’t healthy for me.”_

_“Sorry,” he mumbled. “But I got it, alright?”_

_“I know,” she whispered. “Not asking too many questions and all that really helped but I had to force myself to really stop panicking over the smallest things. When you first disappeared for a few days, I freaked out but you were completely fine. After I realised that you kept coming back, I focused on that instead and it stopped me panicking so much over the smaller things.”_

_“You’re completely fine now?”_

_“Well, no,” Beth admitted. “I am better at it though. I think that whatever you’re doing is probably dangerous and there’s no doubt in my mind that you could get arrested for whatever it is._ But _I do trust you and if you say you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”_

_“Yeah, ma, it’s all good.”_

_She noticed that his eyes were on her bump, watching her hand rub slow circles, and she smiled a little. “Baby’s kicking,” she supplied. “Here. Give me your hand.”_

_Rio shifted so that he was sat up a little straighter, placing the plate on the bedside table, and held his hand out. Beth took it and placed it against the spot that the baby had been kicking. There was a brief pause and she was sure that Rio was holding his breath when suddenly there was movement. He blinked a few time before a smile spread across his face._

_“That feel weird?” he asked._

_“So weird.” Beth laughed. “Sometimes you can really see it too.”_

_“Strange.” But he was smiling and hadn’t moved his hand away._

_“Did you come here for any particular reason?”_

_That seemed to change things because he pulled his hand away and shook his head. “Nah, just thought I’d drop by and check in.”_

_“Are you sure?” Beth asked, being careful not to prod too much. “Because I’m totally relaxed now and happy to listen.”_

_“I’m good,” he told her, that signature smirk in place. “Or does something got to be wrong for me to drop by?”_

_She shook her head. “I like it better when there’s nothing wrong at all. It’s nice to just be surprised by a random visit.”_

_He laughed a little at that which Beth understands because his visits were usually always a surprise considering he would normally show up unannounced more often than not. She smiled at him as she gently bumped her shoulder against his arm._

_“I do have to go though.”_

_“Oh.” But the yawn that followed her words made it clear that it was probably a good idea anyway although that didn’t stop a wave of uneasiness settling inside of her._

_“Yeah.” He got up from the bed and came around to her side of it. She sat up a little straighter, pushing away from the headboard, as he settled right onto the edge of the bed beside her. “Got some stuff to deal with.”_

_“But I’ll see you again soon, right? You know… Before…” She motioned towards her bump._

_His eyes drifted down for a moment and then back up. “Yeah._ Before _.”_

_Beth smiled at the relief she felt. “And we can figure something out for after?”_

_He looked a little confused. “After?”_

_“I want you to meet them,” Beth said, hand settling on her bump. “I mean, you’re going to be around but I want you to be around properly.”_

_For a moment, she thought she saw something change in his expression but before she could figure it out, Rio smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Try keeping me away.”_

_She began to smile but it faltered as he shifted ever so slightly closer. There wasn’t much she could do as his hand gently skimmed across her bump as he leaned in a little. She remained completely still, her breath catching before his forehead pressed gently against hers. The hand the had moved across her bump, came up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear._

_His next words came out in barely a whisper. “You know I’ve got love for you, yeah?”_

_She let out a breath as her heart began to flutter. “Not as much as I’ve got for you.”_

_Rio laughed. It was quiet and gentle and it almost made her breathless all over again. He pulled away from her completely and stood up. “You gonna be alright?”_

_“I’ll be perfectly fine,” she assured him as she shuffled to lay down. When she was settled into the right position, she motioned to the clock radio. “The music will help me get to sleep and Dean shouldn’t be much longer if I need anything.”_

_He nodded as he headed over to the door, only looking back once it was open. “See you soon, yeah?”_

It’s a struggle for Beth to look either of them in the eye but she does it eventually. It helps that she somehow managed not to let any tears fall. Just a couple that she's able to swipe away quickly. The looks she gets in return, however, don’t help.

Annie’s looking way too sympathetic. “And he just… Left?”

Beth nods. “Yeah. That’s the last I saw of him.”

“Maybe something happened?” Ruby says, trying to sound hopeful.

“He looked perfectly fine to me,” Annie points out before putting her attention back on Beth. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re right.” She sighs. “For a moment, I thought the same thing as Ruby way back when but it’s been ten years and he’s clearly doing alright. He could have come back before now.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agrees and now she’s looking all apologetic too. “When did you stop worrying?”

“Well, when he first left I didn’t think much of it,” Beth explains. “I was hurt that I didn’t see him before I went into labour but with Rio, that kind of thing happened. He knew what it meant to me so his reasoning for not being there must have been important. Then after Kenny was born, I was busy, so time just sort of flew by.” She started to pick at her nails just for something to do with her hands. “At the time we just had Sarah, Sadie, and Kenny and there were those days where two of us would tag team the kids so one of us could have a few hours to themselves. Do you remember?”

“I remember,” Ruby says.

“Me too.”

“Well, I would use my day to go to the park where Rio and I first met,” she explains and hearing it now makes her feel more stupid than she had back then. “We’d been there a few times. I would have a coffee with me and I would just wait to see if he would show up. I did it for a while and some other things as well, like asking around, because I had started to worry that something serious might have happened.” She shrugs and smiles a little at both of them. She wants to add that she missed him too but she pushes the thought away. “As Kenny’s first birthday got closer, I realised I had to stop. Plus, I knew deep down that he was perfectly fine. I guess I was right.”

Annie reaches over and squeezes her shoulder. “He might still have a good reason.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Beth decides. “Once we do this job for him, it’s over. I’ll never have to see him again and I can go back to my life.”

Ruby nods in agreement. “We all can.”

“Well, let’s go,” Annie says as she settles back into her seat.

Beth takes a deep breath as she starts the car up again and pulls back onto the road. She can do this, she decides. Recounting the past hadn’t hurt quite as much as she had expected it to. If she’s being honest, she had expected to cry, maybe panic a little like she had in the first couple of years or so whenever she thought about it, but instead she felt… _Angry_. It was quiet though, subtle. It felt more like she was just done with it all, well and truly, like she didn’t have the energy for it anymore.

Driving towards the address Rio had given her, Beth rolls her shoulders a little. _You can do this_ , she tells herself and, for once since the whole mess started, she actually believes it. She no longer needs to convince herself.


	6. A Sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Beth, Annie and Ruby complete their Canada trip and Beth makes some decisions.
> 
>  **Past:** Rio brings Beth a gift on her wedding day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

Seeing the sign ‘Candian Crafts’ on the building she pulled up to wasn’t exactly what Beth had expected to see when she arrived at the location Rio gave her. Although it ended up not being the thing to focus on considering the universe seemed to be against her and Mike, the guy who was supposed to have their packages, swore up and down that he didn’t have them and stuck to his story even when Annie tried.

“I was so nice!” she complains from the backseat as she motions angrily towards Mike. “Can’t you just pull out some knowledge about Rio and pretend you’re still super close?”

“I’m sure he’s changed a lot in the past decade,” Beth mumbles. “Plus, I doubt he’s telling this guy personal details about himself.”

“But if he _isn’t_ keeping it for himself then he might just not trust us,” Annie points out. “If he realises you actually know Rio then he might give in.”

“I don’t know him though,” Beth says and it hurts a little to actually admit it out loud.

“What’s even the point of having a hot gang friend if we can’t use it to our advantage?”

Beth narrows her eyes at her sister but before she can say anything, Ruby is opening up her bag. “Alright, well, if you haven’t got connections and nice isn’t gonna cut it…”

Annie is in the middle of asking what she means when Ruby suddenly pulls Stan’s gun from her purse. Both Annie and Beth shriek in surprise, startling her.

“Are you serious?” Beth hisses before hastily adding, “don’t point that at me!”

“ _Relax_ ,” Ruby says as she unbuckles her belt. “I’m just gonna scare him a little.”

“Damn, gangsta,” Annie says, clearly over her initial shock.

Beth, however, isn’t exactly in the same boat. She tucks her hair behind her ears and looks towards Mike and then back to Ruby. “Who are you?”

“I’ll be right back.”

And she gets out of the car like it’s no big thing. Beth and Annie watch as she goes right up to Mike and it looks like she’s saying something. As he turns around to face her, she lifts the gun and it goes off. Suddenly everyone is screaming as Beth and Annie scramble to get out of the car.

“You shot him?” Beth asks when they get to Ruby but her eyes are on Mike who’s on the floor with blood on his hand and what’s she’s sure is a hole in his shoe.

“I didn’t mean to!” Ruby gasps.

“I thought you said it wasn’t loaded!” Annie shrieks.

“There must have been one in the chamber,” Ruby says, gesturing to the gun.

“You shot me in the foot,” Mike exclaims as he glances at them and then back to his foot.

“Oh, Big Mike,” Annie says as Ruby asks, “What can I do?”

He holds his hand up as she approaches. “Stay away from me! Just stay away from me! Take what you came for and get out of here!” He motions vaguely behind him. “The boxes are back that way.”

And it’s their chance. Shooting him might not be ideal but it got them what they came for and all Beth can see is her ticket out of all of this mess so she grabs at Ruby. “Okay, come on.”

As she pulls both Annie and Ruby along with her, they head in the general direction that Mike pointed out. A couple of men point out the specific boxes that are for them and they move as quickly as possible to take them to the car. Beth can’t help but notice the way that no one seems to look them in the eye and they all keep their distance, even despite the fact that Ruby has put the gun away and looks like she could be sick at any moment.

Beth wonders, as they finish loading the car, what the hell could be in the boxes for Mike to try and keep it from them. While getting drugs from the back of a crafts store does seem unlikely, she hasn’t quite ticked it off her list. Whatever it is, it has to be valuable enough for Mike to either keep it for himself or to not trust them to be the people meant to pick it up. Although she’s sure it’s the former, it’s not hard to guess that he thought he could convince them to leave empty-handed.

None of them say a word as they drive back towards the border. Beth’s pretty sure that Ruby might actually be sick all over the dashboard and for half a second, it gives something for Beth to worry about because she really does have to return the car in one piece but then the whole incident catches up to her as well. Would Mike call the cops? She doubts it. If he’s worked with Rio before she can assume he knows not to call them but would somebody else? There’s no way all of those people know what’s going on and how quiet could Mike keep after that?

Really, it’s the sight of the border in front of her that’s making her worry about those things. If anything stops them from crossing they’re done. Even if there’s nothing dangerous or illegal in the trunk. If they can’t bring it back over, they’ll still be in the red, maybe even more so, and she can’t owe Rio for a second longer.

"Forgive me, Lord Jesus,” Ruby says suddenly. “Have mercy on me. I did not mean to shoot that man. I pray to Thee for forgiveness for all my past transgressions.”

“It just needs a Band-Aid,” Beth tries to reason because even she’s starting to consider clasping her hands together and throwing up a prayer. “It was a graze.”

“In the foot,” Annie adds as Ruby continues to mutter for forgiveness under her breath.

“He's being a baby.” And Beth knows that isn’t really fair but she continues on regardless. “He's gonna live.”

“May not walk again but…”

“He's about to get the best free care socialised medicine can buy,” Beth says as she tries to ignore her sister.

Thankfully, Annie doesn’t disagree with that. Instead, she leans forward and pats Ruby’s arm as she adds, “we should all be so lucky.”

“I shot a man,” Ruby says sounding no less calm.

Beth wants to try again with some words of reassurance but then they’re pulling up to the front of the queue and the woman there is asking for their passports and the receipts from their shopping trip. Thankfully, Ruby remains calm and stops muttering about having shot someone and needing forgiveness so Beth is able to keep her cool. At least until the woman asks them to pull over to lane three for search and seizure.

Despite being assured that it’s just to verify their purchases, Beth can’t help the way her heart hammers against her chest as she nods slightly and drives over. A guy instructs them to get out of the car and wait to one side while he opens up the trunk. It’s instinct for Beth to wrap her arms around herself and it takes a few moments for her wonder if that looks suspicious but then considers that quickly unfolding her arms might look _more_ suspicious so she just ends trying to relax her face as much as possible.

When another man - dressed slightly differently and with a dog - comes out of a nearby building and heads towards the car, Beth’s heart rate picks up again. The three of them have no choice but to watch as the two men go to search the car. Beth repeatedly mutters ‘no’ under her breath as the dog gets closer and it becomes impossible for to swallow the lump in her throat as one of the men asks for a boxcutter. This is it. They’re done for. Beth can feel it. 

Even so, she tries to remain calm as Annie begins to freak out beside her. She focuses hard on the men examining the trunk, trying to figure out what they’re saying to one another but it’s impossible. They’re too far away and even their facial expressions don’t give any clues.

“I know he broke your heart,” Annie says suddenly. “But, like, I really wish you had pulled some strings.”

“Me too,” Ruby adds.

Beth looks at them in disbelief. “I told you, I don’t have any strings to pull.”

“He wouldn’t send us all this way if we were gonna caught, right?” Annie asks. “We’ve never done this before, it’s got to be an easy job.”

“Unless he needs a fall guy,” Ruby mumbles. “Someone to pin this on so he can get away.”

“He wouldn’t,” Beth starts but she really isn’t sure. Would he?

They don’t get a chance to discuss it much further as one of the men walks right up to them. It’s a total surprise to her - and Annie and Ruby too it seems - when he pauses to look them over before saying, “have a safe trip home. Thank you for your patience.”

Beth doesn’t waste a moment in taking her passports and paperwork back from him although she wills herself to remain where she is, waiting for him to walk away first instead. When he’s moved passed them, she resists the urge to throw up as she leads the way back to the car. 

She’s so breathless and her nerves feel completely wrecked that she doesn’t say a word, even once they’re buckled in and driving. Thankfully, Annie and Ruby don’t say much either the whole ride but she can see that they’re just as tense as she is and so she ends up pulling the car over the first chance she gets after passing the ‘Welcome to Michigan’ sign. She _needs_ to know what the hell is in the trunk that somehow managed to get Mike to try and keep it but also for border control to let them pass through.

Beth throws the trunk open and begins to open one of the boxes. “That dog would have smelled drugs, right?”

“Yeah,” Ruby says.

Maybe they had picked up the wrong boxes and, when Beth finally gets the box open, her stomach drops at the realisation that they actually might have because she’s suddenly staring at rolls and rolls of Christmas themed wrapping paper. The three of them begin to dig deeper into the box and Annie even looks down one of the tubes. There _has_ to be something more. If they’ve messed this up then it isn’t over but then, what if they haven’t messed up? Beth can feel the tension she felt this entire trip slowly turn to anger over the idea that this is exactly what they’re supposed to deliver. Had she really almost lost her mind several times over for _this_?

“It's wrapping paper. It's just wrapping paper,” she says in disbelief as she unrolls it in front of her. When she’s met with silence, she slowly lowers it to see both Annie and Ruby with their mouths open in shock. “ _What_?”

“Uh, sis,” Annie says, a little breathless as she motions towards the paper.

Beth slowly turns it over to the other side and sees the rows and rows of money. Her hand slowly lets go of one end so it rolls back together. She throws it into the box and pulls out another just to be sure and it’s the exact same thing.

“Money?” she asks, more to herself than anything.

“Uh-huh,” Ruby breathes out as Annie says, “fake money and lots of it apparently.”

“It’s got to be good quality,” Beth says as she closes the box up. “Especially if Mike tried to keep it from us.”

“Oh, God,” Ruby groans. “Can we please just drop this off now? I need this to be done with.”

Beth nods because so does she and the three of them set off towards the second address that Rio gave her. And really, it turns out that what they got was just the tip of the iceberg and in a weird way it doesn’t surprise her when they’re inside the warehouse staring at an entire operation.

There’s more counterfeit money than she’s ever seen before. In fact, she’s not sure she’ll ever see that amount of money again, real or fake. It’s impressive really and she hates that she thinks so. A few years back she might have actually been proud of Rio in an odd sort of way. She could always tell he was going to do something big although running an entire operation around fake money wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

She watches him as he speaks to a few people and a thought suddenly occurs to her. Saying a quick, “hang on” to Annie and Ruby, she approaches him. Considering all of the fake cash he has in the warehouse already, she can’t be sure that this is really over. What’s to stop him coming back and saying they’re still in the red? That they need to bring _more_ money across the border. She can’t risk it. She’s not entirely sure her nerves could handle the stress.

Despite her attempts to get his attention, he doesn’t turn around and instead keeps talking to the man beside him. For a moment she considers giving up, even begins to walk away but then she catches Annie and Ruby watching her and they both look so unsure and out of place. No, she _needs_ to know they’re done so she turns right back around.

“No,” Beth says, much louder than the other times she’s tried to speak. “I'm gonna need to hear you say it.”

That grabs his attention and when he looks back at her its as if he expected her to be gone already. She ignores the way that hurts more than she would have thought and stays exactly where she is. After a moment, he looks almost amused as he licks his lips and finally turns his entire body to face her. He looks her right in the eye and shrugs his shoulders a little.

“We’re good.”

She doesn’t move right away. It’s exactly what she wanted to hear but it still seems to take her mind a second to process it, to actually swallow his words and believe them because he has lied to her before. In that time his eyes dart down and when she follows his gaze, she sees the pearls around her neck. Her breath hitches a little. She had gotten so used to wearing them over the years that she didn’t really think about it that morning when she had gravitated towards them. The realisation hits her square in the chest but when she looks up at him, his expression hasn’t changed. She swallows the lump in her throat as she nods her head at him and turns to walk swiftly away.

“Is everything okay?” Annie whispers as they climb back into the car.

“Uh-huh,” Beth says, pushing down the memory that’s threatening to invade as she reverses out of the warehouse. “But _we_ are celebrating. I need a drink and some food.”

“Amen to that,” Ruby mutters. “And then I’m going to go home and wash the shame away.”

“Hey,” Beth cuts in because _no_ , they actually did it, they were home free. “We just did this, okay? We actually pulled it off.”  


“And with no drugs up our butts,” Annie announces, sounding oddly proud. “I would definitely call that a win.”

Despite all of the downfalls and the tension of the day, Beth and Ruby both begin to laugh.

* * *

It was meant to be easy after that. And it was, for a moment. They got their drinks and even exclaimed happily to their waitress that they had smuggled counterfeit money over the border and avoided a violent gang _without_ putting any drugs up their butts. It was so ridiculous and the first time since the whole ordeal had started where Beth felt carefree.

The first blip had been the reminder that it was back to normal life and she really couldn’t think what that was. Her marriage was still wrecked and she still had multiple mortgages to pay off. She was home free and yet, she couldn’t help but think of Rio. With it all dying down now, she finally had a chance to really think about him and the fact that he was back. The pearls around her neck were also making it impossible to keep her thoughts away from him.

And then the second blip came when Dean told her the car they had taken was reported stolen. That turned into a disaster of having to dump it because _of course_ Annie had synced her phone up to it. It was a relatively simple problem that escalated way out of control. By the time it was over with, she was just exhausted and wanted nothing more than to just go home and crash but naturally, that's when the third blip it.

The third blip being the worst and the best all at once. It had been a rollercoaster of a day so sat there her kitchen, listening to Dean talk about how they should get back together really put things into place for her. She listened to him speak, counting off all the reasons why they shouldn’t go through with the divorce, all of them being practical and not because they actually _wanted_ to be together. His words - “I don’t think we have much of a choice” - were exactly what she needed to make her mind up.

So, sat in her car, staring at the warehouse door in front of her, Beth honestly tries to talk herself out of the decision she’s about to make. She had been so hurt when Rio showed up out of the blue. The worst memories came flooding back but she couldn’t deny that the good ones had also hit her. Sure, it could be the worst decision she’s ever made but as she climbs out of her car, she knows that it’s a damn sight better than getting back together with Dean just so she doesn’t end up homeless.

Finding her way into the warehouse, a part of her isn’t entirely surprised that it’s empty but there is a slight wave of disappointment that washes over her. It really seems inevitable considering how quickly he had moved on in the past. Still, she looks around the empty space and now that her mind is made up, she knows she won’t be able to change it.

Her fingers gently touch the pearls around her neck and she knows for sure it’s the perfect way to get his attention especially after he had clocked them earlier. Slowly, she unfastens them and on the way out of the warehouse, she leaves them hanging on a door handle in clear enough sight that he won’t be able to miss them.

_Beth was sat at the vanity in her hotel room, putting on her jewellery. It was almost time to leave and her stomach kept doing flips. Naturally, she had planned every inch of the day. She could recite everything that was going to happen without really needing to think about it but then, of course, that meant she hadn’t actually thought about it at all. The thought of walking down the aisle, of actually saying her vows and getting married, had hit her that morning._

_Suddenly, there was a light knock at the door, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked over her shoulder towards it. “Yeah?”_

_“It’s me,” came Rio’s voice from the other side. “I know you gotta leave soon but you got a second?”_

_Beth grinned as she got up from the vanity and hurried over to the door. Ruby and Annie had slipped out to check that everything was running on time and it really was the perfect time for him to show up. He had said he couldn’t make it to the wedding and she hoped that him being there meant he had changed his mind._

_She opened the door for him and immediately turned away so she could finish getting ready. “Come in. I’m almost done anyway.”_

_When there’s no response, Beth turned back around to find Rio frozen in place, still stood in the doorway, his hand on the door handle as he looked her over. When it didn’t seem like he was going to move, she walked back towards him._

_His eyes ran up and down the length of her as he let the door swing shut behind him. She rarely saw him like that: lips slightly parted, eyes a little wide, face soft. When his eyes came up to her’s, he grinned._

_“You look incredible, ma.”_

_She broke out into a smile of her own as she smoothed her hands down the front of her dress. “Yeah?”_

_He looked her over once more. “Yeah.”_

_“You sure you can’t stay?” she asked, trying not to sound hopeful._

_“Nah, I really gotta go but I got you something.” He held up a jewellery box and handed it to her. “I know the something new is probably covered but I figured it can’t hurt.”_

_Beth looked down at the box, running her fingers over it a little before she opened it. Her eyes fell on a string of pearls and for a moment she just blinked at it, unsure of what to say. She touched them carefully and it was clear they weren’t cheap. When she looked up at Rio, his brow was furrowed slightly._

_“How did… Where… I…”_

_“You don’t like them?”_

_“No, it’s not…” She wandered back to the vanity where she pulled the pearls out and set the box down. She held them up against her. They actually went better with her dress and make-up than the necklace she was going to put on when he knocked on her door. “They’re really beautiful.”_

_He came to stand behind her, his eyes on the pearls in the mirror. “But?”_

_“Where did you get them?”_

_“I paid for them if that’s what you’re thinking.”_

_She wanted to shake her head but they both know that’s exactly what she meant. Although, really it was her own fault for not asking questions about what he got up to. “But_ how _?”_

_He reached round to take the pearls and put them on her. “Been saving up. Thought of you the second I saw them.”_

_She stared at him for a moment, trying to let all of that digest. “You spent your money on me?”_

_Rio laughed at that. “You surprised?”_

_“I mean, well, no one has ever really bought me jewellery before, not like this anyway.” Her fingers gently touched the pearls._

_“Not even carman?” he asked, brow raised._

_“He got me a ring,” Beth supplied._

_“Comes with the territory, no?”_

_And he wasn’t wrong. Beth watched him carefully, thinking that over because_ how _had a seventeen year old bought her a pearl necklace when her soon-to-be husband had only split the bill (which wasn’t hard considering his mom had dropped a lot of money on the wedding and they had managed to cut costs in a lot of ways). Even the ring had been his grandmother’s and while Beth did love it, and she was sure it was worth a good amount, it really meant that he hadn’t bought her anything._

_Still, he had done a lot for her and that stuff didn’t really matter but then she caught sight of the pearls again. It forms a lump in her throat. “They reminded you of me?”_

_“Uh-huh.” But he gave her a look for ignoring his last comment. “Wisdom and experience, which sounds just like you.” She caught his smile. “They’re supposed to have calming effects and attract luck as well.”_

_“And that reminds you of me?”_

_“How I feel when I’m with you,” he supplied like it was simple. “Calm and lucky.”_

_“Me too,” she agreed before stepping forward to hug him. “I really do love them. Thank you. Although, I do wish you would come. That would be an even better gift.”_

_His arms wrapped around her waist as he hugged her back. “I want to.”_

_She didn’t ask why he couldn’t because she knew he wasn’t going to tell her. She pulled away just enough to see his face. Her hands rested against his chest and while his grip did loosen, his arms remained around her waist. He smiled a little before he leaned in to kiss her cheek._

_Beth understood, she really did but in that moment she wanted to hold onto him even tighter and beg him to stay. Maybe ask him to walk her down the aisle. He might not like Dean but she had Ruby and Annie - two of the most important people in her life - walking with her, it just felt_ wrong _not to have Rio there as well. But then he’s rubbing her back and giving her look that says he has to go and she relents._

_“Good luck, ma,” he said as he pulled away from her completely. “And seen as I can’t stay, I owe you a dance, yeah?”_

_Despite herself and the urge to plead with him to stay, she smiled, nodding her head ever so slightly. “Yeah.”_

_He reached for her hand and squeezed it, only letting go once he turned and started to walk away. Beth just watched him slip out of the room and stared at the closed door for a long while after he had gone._

When Rio does finally show up, he doesn’t knock. He walks in her side door just as she’s at the bar cart. She pauses but when he remains in the kitchen, she picks up the bottle of bourbon and a glass before joining him. She stands across the island counter to create some space. This isn’t about him, it’s about her.

She pours and takes a drink, partly to steady her nerves, partly to figure out what exactly she’s going to say to him. Although, it doesn’t matter much because he speaks first instead.

“You know the traditions is Jordans over a phone line, right?”

And she does. In fact, they had actually talked about it before. “I only had pumps.”

“Fair enough.” There’s a hint of a smile and a fondness in his expression because _of course_ she only had pumps and they both know that the pearls were a deliberate choice. She swallows against the lump in her throat. “So what'd you wanna talk to me about?”

_It’s now or never_ , she thinks. He really isn’t giving her more than he has to and it helps a lot, the distance he seems to be keeping. “I want to do more work for you. And I want to get paid this time.”

He raises a brow, amusement clear on his face. “That so?”

“Clearly us being inconspicuous was an asset,” she supplies because sure they had debt but he could have sent someone else and Mike probably wouldn’t have kept the packages from that someone. “And I know for a fact that Mike won’t argue with any of us so the whole thing will be smooth sailing.”

“That what you call shooting him in the foot?”

“That was an accident,” she admits before shrugging. “It worked though.”

For a moment, it looks like he might laugh. “What makes you think I’d risk it? You hoping our shared history-”

“No,” she cuts him off. “This isn’t about you or us. In fact, I wish I was asking this of anyone else but you’re my only option right now.”

“That right?” He nods his head a little as he thinks it over. 

“Yes and it’s going to stay purely business,” she says motioning between them. “We don’t discuss anything personal. We met when I robbed you. That’s where our history starts.”

He rocks his jaw a little at that. “A’ight. Strictly business.”

And she frowns because really, it’s like back in the warehouse, how can she believe him? She’s going to have to, she knows that. There’s really no reason for him to bring up their past but then she hates that she can’t really be sure. He clocks it, her doubt, and he makes his way around the island to stand beside her.

She backs up a little to create some space again. Of course, he clocks that too. For a second she thinks he looks hurt as his eyes fall over her but he hides it too quickly to be sure. She does, however, note the way his hand closes into a fist for the briefest of moments.

“I mean it,” he tells her. “Never lied to you before.”

She gives him a look of disbelief. “You said you’d see me soon. Ten years doesn’t sound like ‘soon.’” This time he doesn’t necessarily look hurt but he does frown. “And it only stopped at ten because I robbed you.”

“Things changed.” He looks as if he wants to say something else but he doesn't and that frustrates her more.

“I don’t care.” They’re at an impasse. She can feel it. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m going to have to believe you.”

He doesn’t say anything. Just reaches into the front pocket of his jeans and pulls out her pearls. He holds them out, letting them dangle in the space between them. “You still had these.”

“They remind me of my wedding day,” she comments. It’s not an outright lie. They were in all of her wedding photos so it had become easier to associate them with that occasion rather than Rio. “And of Dean.”

It surprises her that she gets the desired effect. She can tell she’s gotten to him in the way he rocks his jaw. “Things worked out with carman then.”

And despite how good it feels to think that she might have hurt him or pissed him off, the very real facts of her ruined marriage come flooding back and she’s unable to speak. He notices it and she hates that he’s so observant. Her eyes follow the pearls as he pushes them back into his pocket, clearly no intention of giving them back.

“So, what do you say about me working for you?"

“ _Elizabeth_.” And it’s that warning tone he always used to get with her.

She forces herself to look him in the eye. “Yes?”

“What happened?”

His face is impassive but his tone of voice tells her there’s no way they’re moving past this. Still, she holds her chin a little higher. “You don’t care so let’s move on.”

“Wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

“Sure you would.”

He glares at her a little. “What’d he do?”

The fact that he instantly assumes Dean is at fault for whatever she’s keeping from him does make her heart flutter but she forces herself to push those feelings aside. “As I mentioned before, if you were here like you said you’d be, you would know.”

“There’s things you don’t know,” he comments and his voice comes out a little softer than before.

“And you’re not going to elaborate so,” she shrugs a little, “this is getting us nowhere.”

Rio seems to contemplate that for a moment but eventually, he just nods before he turns back towards the side door and she thinks for a moment that he might just turn down her offer to work for him altogether but then he pauses. “I’ll see what work I’ve got. We’ll talk money then.”

“You know where to find me.”

And she catches the briefest of smiles on his face and he turns his head a little to look at her. She holds her breath until he’s gone and then she downs the rest of her drink before pouring another. In her head, she has a plan. She just needs to save up enough money to keep her above water and if she invests it correctly, she shouldn’t need him or Dean ever again. She’s managed to keep her feelings in check for the last decade, she can do it again.


	7. Rolling Punches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** The girls attempt to do another job for Rio.
> 
>  **Past:** Beth helps an injured Rio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

Finding a man unconscious and bleeding all over her daughter’s bed was not exactly what Beth had in mind when she said she would work for Rio. It had been in a bit of a daze as she handed all four kids over to Dean so they wouldn’t be around if anything happened and then it was a waiting game for Annie and Ruby to show up at her house.

When it came to Rio, she really shouldn’t be surprised, but it became impossible not to think about the fact that someone could actually die in her house. How would she explain it? Would Rio clean it up? Would he make _her_ clean it up? Every thought she came up with somehow felt ridiculous and yet reasonable at the same time. 

“What’s with the 911?” Annie asks as she and Ruby finally walk through the door.

“It might be better if I show you,” Beth whispers. She knows it’s not needed. The unconscious man upstairs most likely wouldn’t hear them but still, she wasn’t about to take any risks.

“Okay, now I’m concerned,” Ruby says although Beth suspects that she’s been a little on edge since she got the text especially after their most recent run-ins with Rio.

“Just…” She just motions for them to follow her. _“_ Come on.”

Beth leads the way upstairs and towards Emma’s bedroom. She moves as quietly as she can and although she hasn’t explained what’s going on, Annie and Ruby seem to do the same. When they’re almost at the door, she glances back to see them both looking between one another.

“Will you just tell us what’s going on?” Ruby hisses as Beth begins to open the door. “This is freaking me out.”

“Oh my God,” Annie whispers when they finally see what’s behind the door at the same time Ruby asks, “who is that?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I mean,” Beth starts, glancing back at Ruby as she motions to the man on the bed. “I came back from the grocery store and he was just there.” She holds her hands up as Annie slowly edges a little closer before thinking twice and stepping back. “And I mean, I’m guessing he knows Rio.”

“Come on!” Ruby says. “I thought we were done with that.”

“Yeah,” Annie agrees and although she looks concerned she doesn’t sound quite as freaked out by the whole thing. “What the hell?”

“Okay, okay, we were,” Beth hurries to say because she’s going to have to actually explain what had happened instead of working up to it as she had originally planned. “And then… Oh, God. It sounds so crazy even saying it.”

Annie snaps her fingers. “Spit it out!”

“I… I…” Ever since she’d spoken to Rio she had been bombarded with thoughts as to _why_ this was a bad idea and now the proof was laying on her daughter’s bed, she felt really stupid for having even considered working for him. “I offered to do another job.”

Ruby and Annie both stare open-mouthed at her, before turning to each other, and then back to her with the former being the one to speak. “You _asked_ for this?”

Annie begins to laugh but Beth tries to ignore her. “It’s not like we don’t need the money. We all still need the money.”

“So you _asked_ for this?” Ruby asks as Annie begins to snicker.

“No,” Beth says because really it hadn’t been quite like that. The more she thinks about it, the more she struggles to think about what explicitly she had been hoping for. It was a way to make sure she didn’t have to rely on Dean but even she could admit that maybe a part of herself wanted something more out of it. “Well, not this!”

Annie keeps laughing and when Beth tells her to shush, she places a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I just can’t believe it’s you and not me. Honestly, you befriending Rio and robbing him after all these years has brought such joy into my life.”

“ _We_ robbed him,” Beth corrects. “And it’s not like I planned it!”

“So you harbouring a crush for him and having some sort of history didn’t influence this decision?” Ruby asks as she motions to the man on the bed.

“Absolutely not! And I do not-” She sucks in a breath. “Not wanting to rely on Dean caused this. Look, I invited Rio over to talk about me working for him. I thought I specified that it would be about getting the fake cash. I mean, I pointed out how Mike probably wouldn’t cause any trouble.”

“How did we go from _you_ working for him to _us_ picking up fake cash?” Ruby questions, glaring at her in the process.

Annie scoffs. “She knew he’d say yes to her working for him and by the time she convinced us to help her, he would have struggled to back out. She wanted to get him all nice and sweet.”

“That was… That was not it. I just realised that I couldn’t do it without you guys.”

“So you volunteering us?” Ruby hisses.

“It’s not drugs. It’s paper,” Beth says although she nows realises that maybe she should have been more specific when Rio showed up at her house after finding her pearls. “I mean, it’s literally paper.”

Ruby just continues to look completely baffled by the whole thing and entirely irritated at the same time. “You can’t sign people up for criminal activity like it’s a bake sale!”

“Noted. But can you just help me get this person out of my house right now?”

“Oh, you want some help now?” Ruby asks as Annie laughs. “I’m sorry. Why don’t you call your BFF?”

“Rio is not my-” Beth starts but cuts herself off. “And anyway, I tried to call him. He didn’t answer so I called you guys.”

Ruby gives her a disbelieving look. “Well, let’s call him again.”

“Shouldn’t we, uh…” Annie motions to the man. “Check him?”

“For what?” Beth asks, giving her a slightly confused look. “He’s unconscious.”

Annie rolls her eyes. “For a gun!”

Beth and Ruby look at each other because _oh_. Ever since she found him in Emma’s room, Beth hadn’t come back in. Her main thought had been about getting the kids out of the house and then figuring what to do next. She hadn’t even considered the idea that he might have a gun on him. It seemed ridiculous that it wasn’t her first move now that she thought about it. What if he had woken up before now?

“Okay, I guess I’ll look,” Annie says when no one moves.

Ruby makes a noise of agreement. “I’m not.”

There’s a moment of hesitation before Annie says, “just watch my back, okay? Please.”

“Just be careful,” Beth warns.

She changes her stance as Annie creeps forward. She’s not entirely sure what she’ll do if the man actually does move. Maybe she’ll grab her sister and yank her back. Maybe she’ll grab the lamp that’s beside her and hit him over the head with it. Still, he doesn’t move as Annie approaches - muttering apologises the entire time - and rolls him up onto his side a little. Beth inwardly cringes at the sight, holding her breath.

“Oh, God, okay,” Annie mutters as she reaches forward. “ _Well.”_

When she pulls her hand away and turns around, she’s holding a gun up. Out of the corner of her eye, Beth sees Ruby retreat even further from the room and she herself backs up against the wall. She might have been able to talk herself out of being shot in the head but her discomfort around guns is still high enough that she knows she doesn’t want to be anywhere near the one Annie’s got in her hand.

“Just take it,” Annie insists as she holds it out. Beth tries to say no but her sister isn’t listening and continues, to insist. “Just take it!”

Beth just about manages to pull the end of her sleeve over her hand as she grabs the gun. All at once she finds herself unable to repress a look of disgust and she doesn’t move, gun still held a little way from her.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Beth hisses when no one moves.

“I don’t know,” Ruby says. “But keep it far away from me.”

“Look, I know you had that… Mishap but you literally have a gun in your house,” Annie says disbelievingly. “Out of the three of us, you should be the most comfortable.”

“It was a little more than a ‘mishap’ but even so, I know Stan won’t shoot me with it!” 

“Alright, alright,” Beth hisses because it’s getting entirely too loud all of a sudden. “I’ll hide it.”

While she moves out into the hallway to put the gun in the linen closet, Ruby and Annie stay behind to keep an eye on the man. When she’s done, she motions for them to follow her and they quietly head back downstairs where they gather around the island counter.

The two of them stare at her as she pulls out her phone and begins to call Rio. She crosses everything that he might actually pick up this time. Only, it rings for so long that she quickly begins to lose hope, thinking it another lost cause, only for the phone to suddenly pick up.

“Yo.”

Beth lets out a breath as irritation begins to wash through her at how at ease he sounds. “I thought I made it clear I wanted to pick up more fake cash up.”

“You said you wanted to work for me,” Rio points out. “I said I’d see what work I’ve got and this is what I’ve got.”

“This is more than a step up from what we did for you before.”

There’s a brief pause as Rio lets out a breath. “Take it you’re home?”

“Yes.”

“You planning on going out?”

And she huffs out of breath at that because they both know she can’t. “No.”

“I’ll be by later.”

“Later?” Beth hisses. “Why not now?”

She can hear the smile in his voice when he speaks next. “I’m busy.”

The phone clicks off and Beth curses as she puts it into her back pocket. “He’ll be by later.”

“Later?” Ruby bites her lip and glances towards the stairs. “Well, at least he can take his boy back with him.”

“Yeah, if his boy doesn’t wake up before then,” Annie mutters.

* * *

It’s dark out when Beth gets a text from Rio saying he’s outside. She, Annie, and Ruby pull on their coats and head out to find him sitting on the steps around back. He doesn’t say anything. Not when Annie and Ruby perch on the arms of the patio furniture and especially not when Beth stands in front of him waiting for answers.

“That is not what I meant,” Beth says, motioning towards the upper floor of the house. “Who is that guy?”

“He works for me,” Rio says as if it’s obvious and well, that had been Beth’s first assumption followed quickly by the absurd idea that it was some kind of rival he needed to keep alive to get information from. 

“Does he wash the money?” Annie asks which earns her a look from Rio.

“Regardless,” Beth cuts in. “There’s been a miscommunication.”

“Oh, so you think you can pick and choose what you want to do?” Rio asks and _yes_ , she had thought that. At least she had thought it would make more sense for her to continue picking up packages from Canada especially considering her desire to stay away from this side of Rio’s life in the past. Although then it hit her. She had been the one to say they should keep their history out of it so how could she expect him to take her past reluctance into consideration?

“She thought it would be like driving for Uber,” Ruby remarks.

Beth notices a twinge of amusement in Rio as he looks from Ruby to her that makes her want to scream. “Who’s at fault is not important. We are not qualified to take care of a gunshot victim. I mean, your friend needs professional medical attention.” Rio shakes his head at that and she finds herself moving her own head a little along with him. “You’re shaking your head. Why are you shaking your head?”

“‘Cause that kid ain’t going to no hospital.”

“Why not?” Annie asks but Beth just sighs because… _Of course,_ he wasn’t. 

He gives Beth a knowing look before turning to Annie. “‘Cause there's people looking for him.”

She knows the drill to some extent but still, it makes her panic a little. “What if those people show up here?”

“Trust me,” Rio says as he reaches into his pocket and for some wild moment, that almost makes Beth laugh. “Ain’t nobody gonna shoot up Beaver Cleaver’s house.”

He pulls out a stack of cash and places it down beside him. Looking at it, Beth knows it’s what she wanted, why she offered to work for him in the first place. “No, I’m sorry,” she forces herself to say. “That is not gonna work.”

“No?” he asks, looking at Annie and Ruby as he places more money down.

“I…” Beth starts as Annie let out a soft “ _oh_ ” before clearing her throat. Beth admittedly can’t stop staring at it because it really is a lot of money. She forces herself to look at him. “I have children.”

That only makes him put down more money and the urge to resist is really becoming tricky. She does need it but does she really want to take care of some stranger with a bullet hole in him just to get it? She glances back at Annie who gives the slightest of shrugs and really, it’s no surprise her sister is onboard. She looks back at Rio and the money, clutching the front of her jacket.

“He’s up there in my daughter’s bed,” Beth says desperately. “I’m never gonna get that blood out.”

“I mean, she could sleep on the floor,” Annie suggests and Beth turns to look at her again. “Kids love that stuff.”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll cover a new mattress.”

Beth looks to Ruby and then back to Rio feeling baffled that somehow she was the only one up for doing more work and now suddenly all of them were on board and she was left on her own. The money was tempting though. It’s not like she was being greedy and she couldn’t deny that with Ruby and Annie onboard, she wouldn’t have to do it alone and that was a relief. Then, of course, there’s Rio. Sitting there, giving her that smile that makes her have to divert her eyes.

“So,” Annie speaks up. “Would we get the money now or…?”

“When I pick him up,” Rio tells her.

“When’s that?” Ruby asks.

His eyes shift over to her. “When I pick him up.”

“That sounds fair,” Annie says.

“So, we got a deal, ladies?” Beth can’t keep her eyes off the money now but she knows he’s looking at her when he asks it. She can feel it. “Or what?”

Her whole body is practically vibrating. All those years of keeping this kind of thing at arm’s length and now she’s struggling to say no and actually mean it. She could blame it all on Dean and the horrific financial state he put them in but that wouldn’t explain the underlying idea that it could be _fun_. Maybe not this specific moment but working for Rio in general. If she does it and succeeds then maybe she can negotiate for something a little less worrying.

Letting out a breath, she finally looks at him. “Okay, we’ll do it, but don’t blame us if he dies up there.”

“He ain’t gonna die,” Rio says although it’s hard to tell if it’s some kind of threat or him actually having faith in their ability.

He and Beth both stare at each other, even as he puts the money back into his pocket. “Go inside,” she tells Annie and Ruby. “Check he’s still up there. I’ll be in in a minute.”

They both seem unsure but when Beth nods her head a little, they head towards the house. Rio doesn’t move from his spot, just glances over his shoulder at them as they disappear inside. Once the door clicks shut behind them, Beth sinks into the seat Annie had been perched on and takes a deep breath as she runs a hand over her face.

“You alright, mama?”

Her body tenses a little but she doesn’t tell him no for calling her ‘mama’ like she had during their phone call before the Canada trip. It still doesn’t sit right in her gut but she’s so… So _tired_.

She finally turns her head to the side to look at him. He’s sitting up a little straighter now but his arms are still resting on his knees. “Why this?”

“You wanted work.”

Beth rolls her eyes a little and sits back in the seat, slouching down until her head hits the back of it and she’s practically lying down. “We both know I’m not capable of handling this. My house might be the last place they’ll look but what’s the point if your friend is dead?”

At first, she doesn’t think he’s going to answer or that maybe he’ll just tell her she’s doing it and leave but instead he gets up and comes closer. He changes path at the last second and drops into the seat across from her that Ruby had been perched on. He sits right at the edge of it, doesn’t bother to get comfortable, and Beth forces herself to sit up and match his position.

“You’re good at looking after people,” he tells her.

And she knows she shouldn’t bring up their past, that she should stick to her idea of starting fresh with no mention of their history together. “You hated me looking after you.”

“I hated you treating me like some kid,” Rio corrects. “Didn’t mind the rest.” Beth chews on her lip as she thinks that over but he speaks again before she can even think of how to respond. “Cleaned me up a couple times.”

“You were never shot,” she points out before frowning, thinking of all the times he might not have come to her and all the years that have passed where she hasn’t seen him. “ _Never_ … Right?”

“Never been shot,” he confirms and she kind of hates how worried she’d been and how relieved she is now. “Still cleaned me up though.”

“It’s not the same thing.”

His eyes go a little wide, lips parting ever so slightly. “No?”

“He could die,” Beth points out.

“Back then I bet you wouldn’t have let that stop you if I showed up in that state.”

And he’s right. She probably would have taken him to the hospital if he was unconscious but if he was he still alert, she would have been forced to treat him to some extent and she probably would have. She can’t help but think that she would help him now if she found him in that state. But it wasn’t him. It was some random person Beth didn’t know. This was entirely different but she knew she had already agreed and there was no way she could just sit by and let someone die in her daughter’s bed.

_Beth stirred awake at the sound of light tapping on her window. Her lamp was still on but the rest of the house was in darkness, completely silent. She slowly got out of bed and edged over to the window where she peeled back the curtain and peered out to see Rio. He waved a little at her as she opened the window up._

_“What are you doing?”_

_“Can I come in?”_

_She bit her lip. Normally, yes, in a heartbeat even, but it was late. She glanced behind her at her closed bedroom door and eventually nodded. Really, she was an adult and could do what she liked but the thought of her mother (or even Annie) walking in and inevitably having a string of questions wasn’t the most desirable. “Alright but you have to be quiet.”_

_Once she stepped back, Rio climbed through her open window and landed softly on the ground. Beth couldn’t help but notice the way he swayed a little on the spot and had to lean against the wall for support._

_“Are you okay?” she asked._

_“Fine,” he mumbled, turning around to close the window._

_Beth had already made her way back over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it. When Rio turned to face her, she knew for a fact that something was wrong. He was still leaning a little to one side and his arm was wrapped around his middle._

_“Either tell me what’s going on with you,” Beth told him. “Or get out.”_

_He tilted his head to the side a little as he considered it. “I can’t tell you.”_

_She frowned. “Well, then at least let me see what’s wrong with you.”_

_Rio gave a defeated sigh and made his way over to the bed and sat down beside her. He leant back just enough to lift his shirt up. Beth gasped at the sight, there were bruises littered across his stomach and up his left side. She reached out slowly and gently touched them. He was already trying to curl away from her. It was exactly what she had worried about._

_“How did this happen?” He gave her a pointed look and she looked between his face and the bruises several times until he lowered his shirt. “Okay, you really have to tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into. It’s got to do with that gun, right?”_

_“Shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”_

_Beth let out a steady breath. “Rio, come on.”_

_“It’s still complicated.”_

_“You have to tell me, I’ve hardly seen you the last couple of weeks.” He didn’t seem like he was going to budge. “Are you in trouble?” He shook his head. “Will you end up in trouble?” He shrugged. “Rio, please, this is serious. You’re a kid.”_

_He rolled his eyes and pushed up from the bed. “Don’t start with that.”_

_She couldn’t really argue. Seventeen was hardly a child, he was more mature than half the people her age. In fact, ever since she had met him he had been one of the most mature people she had ever met but_ this _? He was in something deep and he was getting hurt because of it. She couldn’t help but see how young he was, pacing her room - well, as much as he could pace considering the pain he was obviously in - covered in more bruises than she had ever seen on him before. How could she forgive herself if he got in too deep and things got worse for him?_

_“Don’t, mama,” he warned, clearly having clocked the fact that she was lost in thought. “I made my decisions, alright? I’m fine.”_

_It was impossible to drop it though. He was family, just like Annie was, and Ruby even. “Then why are you here?”_

_“Might’ve been my choice but that don’t mean it doesn’t hurt.” He gave her his signature smirk. “Figured you could cheer me up.”_

_“Sorry,” she said, offering up a small smile. “I’m just concerned.”_

_“And I didn’t come here for you to act like my mother or some shit.”_

_Beth chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t mean to.”_

_“I know.” He sighed. “You’re just used to taking care of people before yourself.”_

_“That’s not-” But she paused because what would be the point in denying it?_

_“Yeah.” He laughed a little but immediately winced at the pain._

_“I know you can’t tell me what’s going on,” Beth said after a few moments of silence. “But… Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”_

_“Yeah, mama, I’m sure.” He wandered over to her desk and picked up the book that lay there before coming back over to the bed and passing it to her. “Chapter six, right?”_

_Beth nodded as she climbed off the bed. “You lay down and I’ll be right back.”_

_At first it seemed like he might argue but eventually, he climbed onto the bed and laid down, settling back against the pillows. While he got comfortable, Beth put the book down on her armchair before she quietly slipped out of her bedroom and headed for the kitchen. As carefully as she could, Beth pulled the ice pack from the freezer and wrapped it in a towel. She also grabbed the carton of orange juice before carrying the lot back to her bedroom._

_Rio raised a brow at her but she ignored him as she set the orange juice on the nightstand and handed him the ice. “It should help a little and I’ve got some painkillers in my desk.”_

_“Don’t want any,” Rio said as he placed the ice on his stomach._

_Knowing there was no point in arguing, Beth dragged her armchair a little closer and sat down on it. She propped her feet up on the edge of the bed, down by his legs and opened the book up to the right page. Rio had been with her when she first started reading it and at the time, he had been upset about something. She had read aloud to distract him and in the end, she never read a page without him there. It meant slow progress but she didn’t mind._

_Rio grabbed the carton from the nightstand and took some gulps of orange juice before settling it back down. She waited for him to get comfortable again, adjusting the ice pack a little to sit at just the right angle. While she was still nervous, seeing him lying safely on her bed did offer some relief. It had crossed her mind that maybe people would be looking for him. That maybe that was why he had come to her instead of getting himself checked out because she knew in her gut that he hadn't been to see anyone._

_“Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor or something?”_

_“Ain’t going to get checked out,” Rio said and his voice gave no room for further discussion. “I’m good here.”_

_“I-”_

_“I’m better off here, alright?”_

_Beth really didn’t want to argue so instead, she sunk a little into her seat and began to read aloud._

That night Rio had begun to drift off to sleep so she had to put the book to one side. She had removed the ice pack from his stomach and lifted his shirt just enough to check the bruises. There hadn’t been any cuts or anything which was at least one good thing and there seemed to be no other injuries in general. Although, beyond that, she had struggled to see any upside. Even thinking about it now, it makes her stomach turn and that same feeling of dread creeps up like it had back then.

In the end, she had settled onto the edge of the bed, careful not to get too close even though his bruises were on the other side. As she got comfortable he stirred a little and had edged closer to her. As soon as she had placed a pillow on her lap, he had moved even closer and settled his head onto the pillow before falling back to sleep.

Looking at him now, sitting across from her, she wants to scream. He might not be asleep but his lips are parted in the way they did when he was relaxed. His eyes, however, are searching her face like they’ve got a million questions to ask.

“Okay, yeah,” she finally says. “I can do it.”

“Yeah, I know,” he says with a small shrug.

Before she can say anything, he’s already standing up and with his hands thrust into his pockets, he leaves.

* * *

Beth never thought that taking care of an unconscious person would be so much work. It was definitely tedious just waiting around for him to finally wake up. Between the three of them, once Rio had gone, they managed to change the makeshift patch over the wound. There was no way to know if it was strong enough or if there were any parts of the bullet left inside that needed to be fished out. None of them wanted to take the risk that he would wake up so they left it at that.

It was only Ruby that had other priorities so while she went home, Annie stayed with Beth so that she wouldn’t be alone. While it was boring, it was also exhausting. Every little noise made Beth tense to the point that her body began to ache and she couldn’t sleep. So much so that when the front door begins to open, relief starts to flood her even before she sees who it is.

“Hey,” Ruby says as she comes inside “I brought chilli. Stan made it. It’s spicy.”

Beth groans and runs her hand over her face. “Thank you, I’m so hungry.”

Ruby begins to remove her bag and coat. “Did you stay up all last night?”

“I mean,” Annie starts. “She stayed up all night. I slept next to her like a baby.”

“Is he still out cold?” Ruby asks as she approaches the stairs.

“Uh, maybe,” Beth mumbles. “We need, like, smelling salts or something.”

“Right,” Annie says. “Because it’s 1892.”

Ruby looks a little startled. “Do you want him to wake up?”

Beth was starting to feel a little delirious. She could feel herself swaying a little and she wasn’t quite sure if her words were slurring or if it was just her brain taking a second to process them. “I want him to not die in my house.”

As if they were some kind of magic words, there’s suddenly a large thud from upstairs. She, Annie, and Ruby all look at one another before they hurry up the stairs. Beth flips on the lights as they go, feeling a little more awake with each step.

When Beth throws open Emma’s bedroom door and flips on the light, the bed is empty. She glances around the room as she stays by the door. “His gun, go get his gun.”

“Where is it?” Annie stammers out.

“Uh, the listen closet,” Beth replies as Ruby urges her to hurry.

“Where in the linen closet?” Annie hisses which Ruby repeats, “where is it?”

“Top shelf,” Beth says as she edges into the room.

She can hear Ruby and Annie talking behind her as she moves towards the en-suite door. When she opens it up, it’s still dark inside. She flips on the light before edging the door open a little more. The shower curtain is still pulled across and she’s in between trying to decide if he’s hiding behind it or on the other side of the door, when suddenly there’s a gun in her line of sight.

Beth gasps as it clicks and the door opens further to reveal the man. The gun is pointed right at her head as she takes a step back. She holds her hands up and forces herself not to move any further, not wanting to spook him. His hand is surprisingly still and he seems to be alert although he really doesn’t look that great.

“Beth,” Ruby calls. “There’s no gun in here.”

“Found it,” she manages to get out.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asks and she can hear them coming back down towards the bedroom.

“Just stay back there,” Beth says just as they step through the door.

“Where am I?” the man asks and when he gets no response he yells it. “Where am I?!”

“My house,” Beth says hurriedly as he pushes the gun closer to her face. “You’re in my house.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“I know Rio,” she explains. “He asked me to look after you.”

He blinks a little at that before his brow begins to furrow. “You know Rio?”

“We sort of grew up together,” she tells him. “I can give you as much detail as you want. I can tell you some of his tattoos, his scars, his habits.”

The man seems to mull that over. “I need a car.”

“ _What_?”

“Give me your car keys.”

Annie tries to speak. “Do you understand that we actually saved you-”

“Give me the keys!”

“Okay, I'm sorry,” Annie shrieks as she begins to fumble with her keys.

“I took the bus!” Ruby yells as the gun is turned in her direction. “I took the bus.”

“I have really weak nails! I can't get it off.”

Beth listens to her sister’s panic and a sudden wave of calm rushes over her, allowing for her to finally think straight. “Okay, downstairs. On the counter. Just take it.”

He seems to stare at her for a moment and as he moves towards the door, she sees it, how skittish he actually is. The deer in headlights look about him. He waves the gun around a little to make sure none of them approaches but the entire time his eyes are locked on Beth. As he turns towards the stairs, she can’t move her eyes away from where he’s disappeared.

_When Rio was seventeen, Beth saw him with a gun for the first time and a couple of weeks later he showed up at her bedroom window with bruises littered all over his stomach and up his left side. By the time her wedding rolled around a few months later, everything seemed okay well, as okay as it could be. It helped that for the year that followed, there were no other incidents at least not until one night when Beth was woken up by a phone call from Rio._

_It had been a rushed conversation consisting of him whispering urgently to her and giving her an address for a motel as well as a room number. After he had hung up, it didn’t take much effort for Beth to slip out of bed and get dressed without waking Dean up. He only stirred for a moment but the proceeded to roll onto his side and fall straight back to sleep._

_‘Motel’ was a bit of a stretch for the building that Beth pulled up to. There were ten rooms in total with a main building right beside the first room. She parked outside the last room and climbed out. None of the lights on the exterior of the property seemed to be working so if it wasn’t for the nearby street lights, the main building and rooms three and four, the entire area would be in complete darkness. There was trash everywhere and the closer she got to room ten, Beth could see that the place was practically falling apart._

_As she knocked a couple of times on the door, she realised that it was probably why Rio had chosen the motel in the first place. When there’s no answer, that realisation led her to try the window which, without much force at all, slid open and she carefully climbed inside, trying not to knock anything over or make too much noise. Luckily, there were two chairs right below it and she was able to drop down onto them before stepping onto the ground._

_She quickly shut the window behind her and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room but once they did, she saw Rio on the bed. He was up against the headboard, head slumped forward. His left hand was on his lap while his right hand had fallen onto the bed beside him and Beth swallowed as she noted the gun that lay close to the latter._

_Moving as quietly as she could, Beth edged closer to him. From the close proximity, she could see the rise and fall of his chest and it helped to put her at ease a little. As carefully as she could, she leaned over him to pick up the gun and placed it on one of the chairs that sat under the window so that he wouldn’t be able to grab it._

_Beth then settled on the bed beside him. There wasn’t much space so she had one leg still off the edge while the other was tucked underneath her a little. She took a moment to look him over. Other than some minor cuts and bruises to his neck, face, and hands, he_ seemed _okay but then he was covered head to toe so it was impossible to know for sure and he hadn’t given her much clue over the phone._

_“Rio.” Her fingers gently touched his cheek and when he didn’t stir, she put her hands on his shoulders and shook him gently. “Rio, wake up.”_

_It happened slowly and then all at once. At first, he just blinked a little as he finally began to come around. Then his eyes fell on one of her hands and he tried to push her away while simultaneously backing up further into the headboard. In amongst it all - as she tried to not fall sideways off the bed by holding onto him - he reached around frantically in what she could only guess was an attempt to find the gun._

_“Rio, it’s me!” She practically yelled it at him and even then it took a moment._

_Eventually, he stopped moving. Both of her hands had fists full of his t-shirt while one of his hands was on her shoulder and the other was still outstretched in the general direction of where he had left the gun. His eyes were wide and focused on her but it seemed to take a second for his brain to catch up._

_“Elizabeth,” he breathed out._

_“Yeah.” Beth gave a slight nod and he let go of her. She fell forward a little, still holding onto his shoulders as she took a breath. After a moment, she let go of him and pressed a hand to his cheek. “I said I was coming.”_

_He swallowed. “I’m sorry.”_

_“It’s fine,” she said._

_“My… My gun.” Rio didn’t look at her as he said it._

_Beth let her eyes close for a moment, forcing herself not to deal with that now. “I’ve got it. It’s just over there.”_

_Rio’s eyes darted around as if trying to spot it. “I can’t stay here. They’ll come looking.”_

_“_ Who _will?” Beth asked but he just shook his head at her. “Rio_ , _this isn’t the time for you to keep things from me.”_

_“You suddenly care what I’m up to?” he practically sneered at her._

_“We’ve had this argument before,” she snapped. “I care about you.”_

_He sucked in a breath which only seemed to hurt. “Someone I…” He seemed to think about how to say it. “_ Work with _, pissed off the wrong people.”_

_She groaned a little as she leant forward and pressed her head against his shoulder. “This isn’t happening.”_

_“Mama, I’m fine,” he tried to reassure. “Just gotta figure out what to do.”_

_“Get you checked out,” she said as she raised her head._

_“Nah, I don’t need to and it ain’t safe.”_

_Beth bit her lip. “Let me see.”_

_It seemed like he was going to argue but after a few seconds of just staring at each other, Rio finally zipped his hoodie down. With her help, he edged his t-shirt up. This time the bruises were around his ribs, once again mostly to the left side. It took her back to that time he’d climbed in through her window._

_“That’s got to hurt,” she mumbled, too afraid to touch them._

_“Only when I breathe.”_

_And he says it in a way that she knows is meant to be a joke but she can tell from the lines on his face that it actually does hurt. She helped him edge his t-shirt back down._

_“Is that all that’s wrong?”_

_“Just tired,” he admitted. “Can’t remember when I last slept.”_

_“Okay,” she said, biting her lip as she looked over at the gun. “We’re gonna move you.”_

_“To where?”_

_“To be checked over.”_

_He instantly began to wave her off. “They’re not broken.”_

_She gave him a sceptical look. “You know that for sure?”_

_“Yes.” And something in his voice did soothe her so she let out a breath._

_“We should still move you, especially if you really think someone is coming,” she said and when she spotted the way he narrowed his eyes slightly, she rolled her own. “I’m not tricking you. I’m just gonna move you to a different motel.” Rio shook his head but Beth held her hand up before he could say anything. “I’ll check-in and we’ll make sure no one sees you just in case they come around.”_

_Rio seemed to think it over, looking her up and down as he did. “You don’t gotta do that.”_

_“I do,” she disagreed. “You called me so I’m helping.”_

_“Once you get me settled, you can go home.”_

_Beth shook her head and noted the way he slowly started to move his own head in the same way, brow furrowing. “I have to stay in case you need to get away quickly.”_

_He scoffed. “Too dangerous.”_

_“Then why did you call me?”_

_That made him falter. “I-” He looked away from her as he chewed on his bottom lip. “I needed you.” Just as she opened her mouth so speak, he looked back at her. “Sorry.”_

_“Never be sorry,” she told him, hand reaching up to press against his cheek and he leaned into her touch._

They had in fact gone to a different motel. He had slept most of the way and it was just as run down at the other place so when they got there, it wasn’t hard for Beth to check-in and get Rio inside without anyone noticing. She made him lay down and used the free ice to try and soothe his bruises a little. After that, she had stayed with him. The more she took care of him, the more she realised that she had never seen him so skittish before.

Sitting in her living room, Beth can’t help but realise that the man’s behaviour up in Emma’s bedroom had reminded her a lot of Rio in that motel. It was actually after that incident that he got busier and busier to the point that she saw him less frequently on the lead up to that night where she had gotten the flat tire and tried to change it in the rain.

Instead, she tries to move her focus to something a little more trivial but still annoying enough to distract her. “Two car seats plus a booster. What's that gonna set me back, like six hundred bucks?”

Annie hums in agreement as she pours them all drinks. “Well, maybe he'll realise it and bring 'em back.”

“That's not how carjackings work,” Ruby points out as she sits back in her seat, looking up towards the ceiling.

“I don't want him back,” Beth says as she picks up her drinks and tries to push down how much the man had reminded her of Rio. “He just had a gun in my face.” She places a hand over her face. “Guys, what is even happening? What are we doing?”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asks as she looks over.

“I mean, I am so tired of almost dying.”

“Oh, are you?”

“Okay,” Annie says, sounding a little deflated. “Let's just try to get through this, okay?  


“Oh, Carl,” Beth groans because honestly, at this point, the punches just keep on rolling.

“No,” Annie says sounding just as devastated as Ruby asks, “Carl who?”

“Emma's favourite bunny,” they both supply before Beth adds, “he was on the dash.”

Annie lifts her glass to take a drink. “Now he's on a drive-by.”

Beth groans just as the front door opens and Kenny calls to her. She, Annie, and Ruby quickly down their drinks before hiding the glasses and the bottle out of sight. She quickly turns to face him as he approaches the back of the couch.

“Hey, sweetie, what are you doing here?”

“Just don't be mad at Dad,” Kenny practically begs.

“Why? What did he do now?” Beth asks, feeling a mixture of dread and anger rise up inside of her.

“He told me all about the party with the bounce house and the water slide,” Kenny starts and she does her best to hide her surprise because it’s the first she’s hearing about any of it. “And I invited, like, all my friends. Five can't come, but… But 32 can.”

Before she can ever muster up a response, Dean finally walks in. “Hey! Don't be mad.”

He and Beth stare at each other. At least he looks a little bit terrified of how it might go down. After having a gun pointed at her face, she’s pretty ready to unleash some of that tension, and laying into Dean doesn’t sound like a bad way to do it. 

“Do you wanna go play some video games?” Annie asks Kenny when no one says anything.

He’s already walking away as he says, “yeah, definitely!”

“Let's do it,” Annie says as she claps her hands and stands to follow him.

Ruby takes that as her cue to move as well and as she passes by Dean, without even stopping, she says, “you're a dead man.”

“Go upstairs right now,” Beth says as she shakes her head. “And tell him we can't afford it.”

He approaches the back of the couch and leans on it. “You didn't see his little face.”

She turns to him because that doesn’t change the fact that Dean shouldn’t have promised him anything in the first place. “I see his little face every day.”

“Ugh, here we go.”

And it baffles her how he can stand there and act like he hasn’t created this mess. “Every day for the rest of my life I have to say no to those kids because of what you did.”

“You know what he wants for his birthday?” Dean asks.

“I don't know,” Beth says because she’s tired and it’s still… It’s not the point. “Probably an Xbox or Minecraft or something very expensive.”

“His mom and dad back together.”

Beth looks away for a moment because, on the one hand, it sounds exactly like something Kenny would want. She remembers wanting the same thing when her dad first left but the other part of her couldn’t help but wonder if it was just a ploy from Dean.

“That's what he asked for?”

“That's what he asked for.”

She has to take him at face value and she _knows_ that at least a part of Kenny would want them to stay together. He’s definitely been the most observant of her kids since Dean moved out. “Damn it.”

“Yeah.”

“I would've gone for the Xbox.”

Dean chuckles. “Least we can do is throw him a damn party.”

And she hates to admit it but he’s not entirely wrong. Even if he made the stupid decision to mention one in the first place, especially without her being made aware first, she does get it. What else could they possibly give the kid when he was asking for something they really couldn’t give him? She tries not to think about how difficult it’s going to be to throw a party that doesn’t suck when they’re already struggling to stay above water. There’s already the bounce house and the water slide to get although she’s sure she could maybe sacrifice one of those at least.

“I’ll handle it,” she tells Dean. “Just try to dampen his expectations a little, okay?”

Beth doesn’t wait for a response as she gets up and heads to the kitchen. The punches really do keep on rolling. She might get it but suddenly her earlier exhaustion hits her again and she needs to get away from Dean. Just being in the same room as him is making her grow more irritable. Relief manages to wash over her a little when he doesn’t seem to follow.


	8. What If

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Kenny's birthday party.
> 
>  **Past:** Beth runs into Rio on a night out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

Beth threw herself into putting Kenny’s party together. She made sure Dean kept all four kids well out of the way so she could just get on with it and, at some point, Annie and Ruby arrived to help her out. The further they got on in the set-up, the more relieved Beth began to feel. Despite Dean’s incredibly stupid decision to promise something so massive to Kenny, it was actually looking to be a pretty decent party after all. She admittedly felt a little anxious that some of the things they bought would get damaged and she would be unable to return them but, as Annie kept pointing out to her, it would probably still work out cheaper while being the party Kenny had been hoping for. It also helped when Ruby pointed out that it was another one of Dean’s fuck-ups that Beth could escape the fall out of.

Almost as soon as she finished setting up, it was time for the guests to arrive. She did the dutiful thing of welcoming everyone and it’s really only when she’s preparing the cake that she gets a chance to take a break. Not that it’s necessarily a good one when conversation lapses into Ruby losing her job and Annie making jokes about robbing grocery shops for fun and just- It’s a lot.

“What do you think he’s gonna do?” Annie says to break the silence they’ve lapsed into.

Beth frowns at her. “What do you mean?”

“ _Rio_ ,” she hisses. “With his boy being gone. I mean, he’s bound to show up and when he does, what do you think he’s gonna do?”

“Go on his way?” Beth shrugged. “Does it even really matter?”

Ruby gives her a wary look. “Come on, B. He said he was coming to pick him up. I don’t think his boy leaving was part of the plan.”

“That’s not… It’s not like it was our fault. He can’t blame us for that.”

Annie and Ruby share a look before the former speaks. “Sis, don’t take this the wrong way but I think you’re relying too much on the Rio you used to know.”

“Yeah, he had a gun to your head not too long ago. We just want to be prepared here.”

“Well, if he decides to show up today, he won’t do anything,” Beth says, motioning generally towards the party outside. “There are way too many people.”

“Silencers are a thing,” Annie points out.

Ruby gives her an unimpressed look. “And the witnesses?”

Beth rolls her eyes as her sister lets out a soft, “oh, _right”_ but it is understandable. She wouldn’t put it past him to be upset that his plan hadn’t got exactly right but she had done her job. His boy was alive, he just wasn’t with her. And she was confident that he wouldn’t do anything if he showed up today. He may have changed but she was fairly sure that an eleven-year old’s birthday party was not the kind of place for him to kill someone or show any display of violence for that matter.

“But if he shows up another day?” Annie asks. “You know, when there are no witnesses.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

And Beth doesn’t look at either of them as she picks up the birthday cake and heads for the door. She’s not quite sure _how_ they’re going to cross it but they will. They’ve done too much already to just lay down now. Worrying about it all wasn’t going to help until they actually spoke to Rio and well, that might not be a conversation shes looking forward to but with the possibility that his boy had already gone to him, there might not even be a conversation to have.

* * *

Beth really hates being wrong. It’s bad enough she had to look up from her son blowing out his candles to see Rio standing there, watching them all. Her first thought was to get rid of him and the second she excused herself, he turned and headed back through the french doors into her bedroom. When she gets there, she shuts them behind her and quickly turns to face him.

“You can’t just walk in here.”

He spares her a glance and she can see that amused look on his face because just walking in is exactly the type of thing he does, the type of thing he’s _always_ done. “Your door was open.”

“It’s because I’m having a party with children and their parents,” Beth points out but he doesn’t seem to be listening. He’s way too interested in her photos and it doesn't matter because her eyes dart down to his waistband. “Oh my God, you brought a gun? Of course, you brought a gun.”

He’s already covered it with his shirt. “He still selling cars?”

She knows who he’s talking about even before he holds the picture up and if she has to guess, she figures she already knows the answer. “Yes.”

“Is he still bad at it?”

For a moment, she’s almost tempted to roll her eyes but then a wave of laughter from outside hits and she really needs to get him out of here. “What does that matter?”

He doesn’t say anything at first and she can’t help but notice the way his hand tightens impossibly hard on one of the photos. Before she can crane her neck to get a better view of which one it is, he puts it back.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Rio says as he finally turns and begins to walk towards her.

“What do you want?” she asks to which he looks her up and down and it shouldn’t do things to her but it does and she hates it and just- “ _What do you want?_ ”

“I came to pick up my boy.”

And she really does hate to be wrong. She should be worried, scared a little, that his boy isn’t in the house and yet, Rio hs still come to collect but she finds that all she is, is angry. Her job was to take care of him and keep him safe. She did that but from where she’s standing, a gun in her face was _not_ part of the deal. If Rio wanted her to handle that and force his boy to stay where he was, he should have paid more.

“That’s hilarious. He’s not here. And by the way, when he left, he held me at gunpoint and then stole my car. So, I’m gonna need payment for that too.”

His brow furrows. “Oh, I’m sorry. What payment?”

“Excuse me?” And God, she can just _feel_ this conversation isn’t going to go in her favour but after everything she went through to do this job for him, she has to get something out of it.

“You get paid when you do a job. Did you do a job?”

“He left.”

“Then that’s on you.”

And, of course, it is. “What am I supposed to do, chain him to the bed?”

Rio chuckles. “Oh, baby, what you think this is? Little league? And you get a trophy just for playing?”

She stares at him, can’t help but wonder if this is what he would have been like all those years ago if she actually wanted to get more involved and know what he was getting up to. He has to know this isn’t her thing. No matter what he thinks, she really isn’t cut out for this work. What was she supposed to do? She’s not equipped to force a man with a gun to stay somewhere he clearly doesn’t want to be.

_Beth thought for half a second that maybe she should have just gone home but she kept thinking about how, as she got closer, it just felt right to tell the driver to take her elsewhere. Home would be empty and she wasn't quite ready to be on her own. She ordered a drink and took the opportunity to sit at the bar as she drank it and then, thanks to the heat coursing through her and the light (but enjoyable) feeling in her body and even her head, she got up to dance._

_She could feel eyes on her as she moved and for the most part, she was able to just ignore it, she was used to it after all. Only, out of nowhere, it felt different. She turned on the spot and her eyes immediately fell on Rio who sat at a nearby table. He was in one of his button-up shirts (a blue one) and his usual pair of black skinny jeans. He was leaning back in his seat and she would assume he was at ease if it wasn't for his hand gripping the back of the chair beside him. She grinned at him because, despite the questions in what he might be feeling, she was happy to see him._

_He was up, quick as anything, and moved swiftly towards her. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped as his hand grabbed hers and he began to pull her towards the back of the bar. It took her a second to realise that he was heading for the exit and she wanted to protest but it was far too loud and she wasn't so sure he'd listen._

_When they got to his car, he opened the passenger side door but she reached around him and pushed it shut again. He turned to glare at her but she ignored him, instead choosing to stand beside him where she leant back against the side of the car._

_"Don't I get a 'hi' or something?"_

_She could see the tension in his jaw as he looked her over. "How much have you had?"_

_"Not that much." Only then was apparently the exact right time for her to hiccup. He raised a brow at her. "I feel good." She motioned vaguely to herself. "Still in control."_

_And really she wasn't drunk, at least not_ that _drunk. Could she drive? No. Could she walk in a straight line? Sure, if she concentrated hard enough although it would probably give her a headache after. But she was most certainly aware of everything around her and absolutely able to stay out longer and drink a little more._

_"Yeah," he said after a moment and she could tell the answer didn’t matter much to him anyway. "We going."_

_"Oh, you're gonna take me home?" And_ God, _it wasn't supposed to sound so...  so…_ loaded _but her voice was low and she seemed to say it just as she looked up at him through her lashes and just-_

_He moved quickly until he was so close that there was hardly any room between them at all. One of his hands rested on the roof of the car beside her. He smelt great and it took everything in Beth to remain where she was but he was far too close and looked too good and smelt too incredible that she just leant forward. And, when he didn't move away, she thought it was the right decision but at the last moment, he turned his head and her lips brushed against his cheek. She certainly wasn't drunk enough to brush that off and forget about it._

_She pushed against him and he moved willingly, giving her the space to move past him and head back towards the bar. Only, when she'd barely gotten a couple of steps away, his hand wrapped around her wrist. He didn't pull her back but she stopped nonetheless, refusing the look back at him._

_"Please get in the car."_

_She huffed. "You can't just drag women out of bars and demand they get into your car." She turned to face him and his eyes narrowed but he did let go of her. "Okay, I didn't mean it like_ that _, just… use your words. Maybe ask."_

_"I said 'please'." It was her turn to narrow her eyes and he rolled his. "A'ight… Elizabeth, would you please get in the car?"_

_For a moment, she looked as if she was considering it but then shrugged. "No."_

_He blinked at her. "No?"_

_"Not till you tell me why."_

_He looked for a moment like he was trying to figure a way not to answer her but then he sighed, glancing away for the briefest of moments before his attention was back on her. “Shouldn’t be out all alone. Thought you was with your girl?”_

_“I was,” Beth agreed. “Ruby got dropped home first, I was heading to mine but I asked to be dropped here instead.”_

_“How come?”_

_She shrugged. “Didn’t want to go home. So, what’s wrong with me being on my own?”_

_He didn’t answer, didn’t need to. She could tell he thought it was unsafe for her to be out on her own like that and it was clear that he knew she would argue against that fact no matter how true it might be. Instead, he said, “they was watching you.”_

_Beth blinked at him. “Who?”_

_“Every guy in there,” he said, motioning behind him to the bar._

_And it’s an obvious exaggeration but she_ knows _they were. “I’m used to it,” she admitted. “Ever since these-” she motioned vaguely to her chest “- came in. But, while I’m sure that bothers you, there’s something more.”_

_He rocked his jaw, eyes darting down and then back up to her eyes. “Just let me take you home.”_

_It hit her then and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh my God.”_

_“You sound just like your sister._

_She ignored the comment and pressed forward. “You’re here for some kind of… of…_ business _thing, aren’t you?”_

_“Business thing?” he asked, one brow slightly raised, a small smile on his face._

_“You know what I mean,” she hissed. “Whatever it is you’re involved in.”_

_There’s a pause. “I don’t want you here when it goes down. I got enough time to take you home before they show.”_

_“Why can’t I be here?”_

_“Don’t wanna be distracted.”_

_“I won’t be a distraction.”_

_And he just stared at her and she started right back which she knew was stupid because did she really want to stick around? The answer was no, not really. It would have definitely been interesting to see Rio in his element, perhaps catch a glimpse of the people he worked with, but she had avoided all of it for so long. Although, maybe she owed it to him, this person she…_ cared _about, to start taking an interest._

_“I just mean, no one knows about me, right?” Beth asked. “I’ll just be drinking and dancing. You’ll do your business thing. We’re just two people in the same place at the same time.”_

_“Ain’t happening.”_

_“You do realise if you’re early, they might be too, right?” He frowned at her and she reached up to straighten his collar a little. “I mean, you getting all ahead of yourself and dragging me out here… They might have seen. They’ll know we’re together, that we know each other, you can’t really hide it.”_

_His frown turned quickly into a glare. “You need to go home.”_

_She looked him over. It really felt like the perfect time to maybe give him a chance. Whatever he was involved in, it clearly wasn’t a phase and he seemed to be good at it and well, he was alive. Could she really turn a blind eye to it for the rest of their lives and never find out what it’s all about? In the end, she just relented._

_“Fine.” She moved past him to get to the car. “Just at least try to drive the speed limit.”_

Beth thinks about how on the drive back to her place, he had seemed anxious and she could tell he didn’t want her at that bar during his meeting for her safety. This time was different though, stood in her bedroom, she was essentially his employee. He didn’t care about her safety, just cared about the job getting done. Back then, she really would have considered finally getting involved. It was just poor timing that it was only a couple of months after that that she got pregnant with Kenny and her choice was essentially taken out of her hands.

“I tried,” she finally tells him.

Rio shakes his head at her as he steps a little closer, so close that the distance reminds her of that night because again, he smells too good to ignore. “I don’t give a damn if you try. You gotta win, bitch.”

She tries not to reel back but her eyes dart all over his face and she wants to say something to that, _anything_ , but she doesn’t know what and- “Beth.” She looks over to see Dean on the other side of the room and he’s looking at Rio. “You okay?”

“Fine, yeah,” she says instantly as she glances at Rio and then back to Dean. “Fine.”

She can see the former look at her out of the corner of her eye but she refuses to turn to him. For once, Dean might have actually helped, even if it is unintentional because she’s not sure she can continue her conversation with Rio and she knows for a fact he won’t stick around now. 

And he doesn’t, he heads across the room to leave, patting Dean on the arm on his way past and it takes everything in Beth not to groan in frustration. When Dean looks at her with a questioning and slightly angered look on his face, she realises she really doesn’t have time to deal with him and she slips out through the french doors to return to the party that’s slowly winding down.

* * *

 

 _Cancer_ . Not getting the money she was relying on was one thing but now she’s got a sick husband and four children she’s going to have to potentially break bad news to at some point. The blow from essentially failing her first job had made her angry enough to actually stick Dean with the idea that she wanted to get divorced and that she could sleep with whoever the hell she wanted and that the house was hers and now, _cancer._ The word still rings in her ears and makes her feel sick to her stomach.

Even Annie coming over and being with her wasn’t enough. Beth cried and cried and all she could do was worry because there were so many questions she had and so many uncertainties and another reason to worry about their finances on top of the potential devastation that could come at any moment depending on just how sick he was.

But, just as Annie is leaving her bedroom with the promise of returning all the party stuff so she can sleep, Beth gets an idea. There’s no guarantee that Rio will work with her again after what happened but she has to trust that even if he doesn’t care about her anymore, at least a small part of him will at least be open to hearing her out. She sits up, already thinking the idea over in her head when she spots someone moving outside her french doors. She frowns just as they open and really, _speak of the devil and he shall appear_ , couldn’t be more appropriate. Rio steps inside, shutting the door behind him.

“Hi,” she says when he doesn’t move.

“Eddie brought your car back,” he motions with his head in the general direction of the front of her house. “It’s in one piece more or less.”

She raises a brow. “More or less?”

“Got some holes in it,” he says, eyes taking in her pyjamas and then falling to her bed. “Should be able to cover them up.”

“Well, at least it’s back,” Beth says as she climbs out of bed and goes to stand closer to him, his eyes now fully back on her. “Carl the bunny was in there and Emma really wants him back.”

He smiles at that, even laughs a little. “Yeah, I saw him.” His eyes glance towards the bed again. “What’s going on here?”

“I know I messed up this last job.” She still doesn’t feel like she did but it really doesn’t matter all that much anymore. “But can you meet me, Annie, and Ruby to talk about something?”

“What about now?”

“Ruby’s busy and Annie’s doing something for me,” she explains. “I want to catch them up before we meet with you but it’s something you’re going to want to hear.”

Rio looks her over and nods. “A’ight, talk to them and let me know. I’ll tell you when I’m free. Now, what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing.” Beth doesn’t even want to look back at the bed, knows her tissues are still there. She knows her eyes and nose are probably all red and she just hopes he thinks she’s ill and says nothing more about it. “Thank you for making sure I got my car back.”

“Mama, come on.” He moves further into the room, over to photos he had been looking at the last time and she notices he gravitates to the one he had gripped so hard before. This time she can see it’s a picture of her, Dean, and Kenny when he was a baby. Rio doesn’t pick it up this time but his finger does brush across the frame. “I know something’s up.” 

“I found something out.”

Rio turns to look at her. “Am I supposed to guess?”

“It doesn’t matter.” But he digs his hands into the pockets of his jeans like he doesn't plan to go anywhere. “Dean has cancer.” And he scoffs, actually _scoffs_ , and Beth glares at him. “That’s not… This is… This is serious!”

He holds his hands up. “You know for sure?”

“He wouldn’t lie about that.”

She can see it in his eyes - _wouldn’t he?_ \- but that’s not what he asks. “When did he tell you?”

“Kenny’s party,” she says. “Right after-”

And it makes her pause because she realises it was right after she told him to leave, after they talked about her possibly having sex with Rio, after… _No_. He wouldn’t do that, wouldn’t be so cruel as to lie about something so serious. He probably wanted to bring it up at a better time and her anger, the possibility of a big argument, had just escalated things.

“I’m just saying, Elizabeth,” Rio starts when she still doesn’t finish her sentence. “I know you’d want all the information. Doctor’s appointment to find out for sure, a second opinion, even a third. You plan everything down to the last detail and you just gonna rely on his word?”

“He wouldn’t have told me if he wasn’t sure,” Beth ground out. “He’s a lot of things but he’s not _that_ cruel. We’ll find out everything we need to and we’ll figure out a way to pay for everything he needs.”

Rio nods his head a little. “A’ight, if you say so. I’m just saying, best to be careful.”

The thing that doesn’t settle quite right with Beth as she watches him come back across the room, his fingers brushing lightly against hers just before he slips out of the french doors, is that there would have been a time when she would have been inclined to believe his suspicions. And really, what has changed? What would Rio get out of pitting her against Dean? Everything he’s saying is plausible. The timing of the reveal was oddly convenient and it _is_ just his word she’s got to go on.

Beth doesn’t want to believe, even with the cheating and the debt, that Dean could be so cruel but she’s unable to deny the fact that he might be just that desperate to get what he wants.


	9. Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** The girls make Rio an offer but Beth begins to worry and the floodgates begin to open for her and Rio
> 
>  **Past:** Beth gives Rio an alibi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

They’re stopped at a red light on their way to meet with Rio to talk business. Beth is chewing on her nails when Annie leans forward in her seat to hit her shoulder. Pulling her hand away from her mouth, she glares at her sister, before focusing back on the road as the light turns green. She’s nervous for a variety of reasons. She _is_ confident in her idea but not so confident that Rio will actually listen or jump onboard and with their track record so far, it’s a risk to get involved with anything when it comes to him and crime.

And then there’s the fact that she can’t get her conversation with Rio out of her head. What if Dean was lying? She might not be so sure he’d stoop so low but then, recent times had proven that she doesn’t really know Dean at all.

“Would you chill?” Annie asks as Beth begins to drum her fingers against the steering wheel. “This was your idea.”

“Yeah, talking about that,” Ruby starts. “Can we go over it again real quick?”

Beth takes a breath, thankful for the temporary distraction and the ability to go over the plan again with someone other than herself. “He gives us fake cash, we buy things, we return them for  _ real _ cash, we hand the money back and get a cut of it.”

Leaning forward again in her seat, Annie nudges Ruby’s hand. “And we have this idea because…” 

“His current methods are clearly dangerous and too risky.”

“And?” Beth prompts, knowing that it’s only helping Ruby to wrap her head around the idea they’re proposing. 

“We’re the best people for the job,” Ruby adds. “Because as housewives we buy stuff all the time. For our husbands, our kids, our houses, our cars. No one will think twice if we overindulge and have to return it.”

“Exactly,” Annie says, squeezing her friend’s shoulder before turning to Beth. “So why are you so nervous? He knows you, he  _ likes _ you, and it’s your plan.”

“He doesn’t  _ like _ me,” she disagrees as they finally pull into the parking lot. “He and I agreed that our past won’t come into any of this.”

“Sure, let’s pretend that’s true or that your agreement or whatever is even going to last and just answer my actual question.”

Beth doesn’t respond while she parks the car but they are early and she’s sure the subject won’t be dropped. “I’m anxious he won’t agree.”

“He’s going to agree,” Annie says and it’s with so much confidence that it makes Beth frown. “I mean, he agreed to meet with us even though we messed up with Eddie.”

Ruby nods ever so slightly. “She’s got a point.”

The three of them climb out of the car and it gives Beth a moment to collect her thoughts (and to hope that the whole thing might be dropped). She doesn’t want to tell them about the conversation. They might not agree and even reassure her that he wouldn’t make up something like that but if either of them even remotely agreed with Rio’s suspicions then she would definitely have to call into question Dean’s cancer story.

It seems like maybe the conversation really has come to a close as they enter Cloud 9 in silence but as soon as they find a table and sit down to wait for Rio, she can see Annie is eager to say something else. She’s got that look and she’s playing with her hands and just-

“ _ Please _ just spit out.”

“Something else is bothering you,” Annie says, eyeing her sister suspiciously. “You’re keeping something from us.”

“You were definitely worrying about something in the car,” Ruby agrees. “I haven’t seen you chew your nails in years.”

“Rio  _ suggested _ something yesterday and it’s stupid, not even worth worrying about but it got me thinking.” Both of them give her a look to continue and she sucks in a breath. “He scoffed when I told him about Dean’s cancer. He didn’t seem to believe it.”

The two of them share a look like they’re trying to silently communicate something until Ruby asks, “why’s that got you all worried?”

Beth’s eyes dart down. How could she even begin to explain it? She’s known Dean and Rio for the same amount of time give or take but really, the latter was gone for a decade of that time. Dean might have lied about the debt and the cheating but Rio had also lied about caring about her and left without even bothering to say something. She closes her eyes and shakes her head a little because none of it is helping.

Annie gasps, forcing Beth to look up again. “ _ Oh my God _ , you think he might be right.”

“No,” she says a little too quickly and she has to clear her throat a little before continuing. “I don’t think Dean would lie about something like that.”

Ruby reaches over to squeeze her knee. “But he’s already lied so much already.”

“I’m going to go to every appointment so I can hear it all for myself,” Beth decides, holding her head a little higher.

“Yeah, sis.” Annie offers up a smile. “If Dean’s lying there’s no way he can keep it up. He’s not that smart.”

“Amen to that,” Ruby mutters under her breath.

They all glance at one another, all completely silent and straight faced before the three of them suddenly burst out laughing. It definitely makes Beth feel better, more normal. All of the recent lies and Rio’s sudden return had put her off-kilter but  _ this _ , sitting with Annie and Ruby and laughing so much her worries were put at bay, that felt right.

“What’s so funny?”

Of course, he would choose that exact moment to arrive. Beth looks over just as Rio drops into the empty seat. He’s got a cup in hand, the straw in his mouth as he drinks. It makes her wonder how long he’s actually been there.

“Nothing important,” Beth says, sitting up a little straighter. “ We have a business proposition.”

“Aw, you guys didn't hit me up to do brunch?”

He’s got those big eyes and slightly parted lips as he looks them over but she knows he’s anything but offended. His presence has clearly disrupted Annie’s earlier confidence and brought back Ruby’s worries because neither of them says a thing.

“To clean your fake money,” Beth continues, ignoring the brunch comment. “Without having to deal with drug dealers or street people.”

And  _ God _ , she’s aware of how stupid she sounds and how clear it is that she has never had any real experience with this kind of thing and it doesn’t help that Annie smacks her lips. “Street people?”

Rio spares Annie a glance but looks completely unphased by the whole thing as he chews on his straw more than he actually drinks through it. “I got a system.”

“It's a liability,” Beth points out, trying to sound absolutely sure.

“It gets the job done.”

“How'd your friend get shot again?”

And that quick response actually has him pulling his cup away from his mouth and it’s clear he realises she’s right, even if he won’t outright admit it. “What're you proposing?”

“Let us do it right here.”

A smile begins to form at the suggestion. She can see it in the way one of his eyebrows lifts ever so slightly that he finds the whole thing absurd. “You wanna clean fake cash here?”

“Or any big box retailer,” Annie chimes in, grabbing his attention. “You know, Walmart, Costco. They have very generous return policies."

Her contribution seems to finally push Ruby to speak up. “And no one thinks twice about a wife buying her husband a flat screen TV or new tires for the minivan.”

“We trade it all in for fresh cash,” Annie says and Beth clarifies, “Fake money in, real money out.” in the hopes of really driving it home.

Rio looks around at the various shoppers before looking back to Beth. “Y'all got it all figured out, huh? What's in it for you?”

This was something the three of them had previously discussed as well. They needed something that would make it all worthwhile but not so much that he would say no. “20% cut of the profit.”

“Oh, is that right?” He chuckles and leans forward a little. “There anything else while we're at it? Y'all want health care? Union breaks?”

“Just for the record, I'll never smuggle anything up my butt,” Ruby tells him.

“I could be talked into it if the compensation was appropriate,” Annie says and then, when it seems like he’s about to get up, she adds, “wait, where are you going?”

“Uh-” He motions vaguely over his shoulder. “I gotta go buy a duvet cover.”

When he does actually stand up, Beth does too. Her worry about him saying no bubbling up again. At the end of the day, she still needs the money as does Ruby and Annie. They put all of that effort into robbing the store, then there was taking care of Eddie, and there’s no money to show for anything and they still all have the same problems. It can’t all be for nothing.

“Are you in or...?” Ruby asks.

He looks at her for a moment before shrugging. “We'll give it a try.”

Beth watches him turn and it’s like being hit with a ton of breaks to watch him walk away with no real idea of where she stands. “We're not here to try, we're here to win, bitch.”

He turns instantly, his mouth hanging open slightly, and while he does look amused, part of her wants to take it back. It was hard  _ not _ to echo his words and she really does need him to clarify but it also feels very stupid.

As he walks right up to her, she tries not to squirm. “10%.”

“Fifteen,” she counters.   


“Twelve and a half.”

When the three of them had discussed it, fifteen was as low as they were willing to go with twenty being their ideal. Still, she doesn't want to risk negotiating too much so she gives a slight nod. “Okay, deal.”

“Cool.” And he looks momentarily amused before he turns to walk away. “I usually pay thirty.”

Annie frantically hits her hand and when Beth turns, they high five. It actually worked and she can’t quite believe it.

Ruby lets out a breath. “That was something else.”

“I can’t believe you called him a bitch,” Annie says, trying to suppress a laugh.

“Well, it worked. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for him to make a decision.”

“Sometimes I wish I just sucked it up and kept my job,” Ruby admits but when both Beth and Annie give her a disbelieving look, she rolls her eyes a little. “Fine, nothing would have made me suck it up but aren’t you worried this might go wrong?”

“Well, we’ll probably just work with Rio and as long as we don’t mess up there’ll be no guns in our faces,” Annie says in a tone that suggests she thinks that's helpful.

Beth waves her sister off. “It’s our idea. We talked this through before and we know what we’re doing. Sure we got caught with the robbery but that was just bad luck. A wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time sort of situation. As for Eddie… We weren’t exactly equipped for the job.”

“Yeah, we can do this.”

And although she doesn’t sound completely sure, Ruby does nod her head as she says it and Beth offers her up a smile that she hopes is reassuring.

* * *

Standing outside of Kenny’s open bedroom door, the adrenaline of a successful deal now gone, Beth watches Dean typing away on the keyboard. She holds the blankets and pillow close to her chest as she watches. There’s brain scans on the screen and it makes her think all over again about talking it through with him and really getting to the bottom of what’s going on.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

He looks startled to find her standing there, glancing between her and the screen until his eyes fall back onto her and remain there. “Um Just playing Dr. Google and freaking myself out.”

It seems like a red flag but she’s also recieved enough phone calls at stupid hours from Annie declaring she’s going to die and has some obscure illness when she’s just got a bug that’ll pass in 24 hours or so. Normally, she relents and admits that she googled her symptoms so Beth can imagine that Dean could fall down the same rabbit hole.

“Yeah, maybe don't do that.”

He smiles ever so slightly. “Yeah, right?”

“When will you know more?” she quickly asks.

He takes a breath but seems to answer relatively fast. “I got a bunch of scans and tests next week.”

“Okay.” It’s her in, a way to know for sure. There’s no way he can keep the lie going if there is one and if there isn’t, well, it’ll give a clearer insight as to what they’re going to have to deal with. “Well, I'll go with you.”

“You don't have to,” he says before adding quick enough for her thoughts not to spiral, “but that would be great.” She smiles and nods her head a little because she has to believe this is real. Him not having cancer would be great and in most circumstances, the ideal, but if he doesn’t then that means he made it up and that’s just… “Um, hey, I just wanna say thanks for letting me come home.”

It hadn’t been her original plan but it just felt wrong to make him fork out for a motel room when things could go so wrong. She wasn’t inviting him back to her bed and she sure as hell wasn’t going to give their marriage another shot but with a pin currently in the breakdown of their relationship, it seemed like the only choice for now.

“You're gonna be okay in here?”

“Oh, yeah, totally,” he says, reaching over to touch the bunkbed. “Kenny's psyched, so am I. I get to sleep on the top bunk.”

She smiles, imagining Kenny calling the dibs on the bottom bunk and Dean not having the heart (or perhaps being too child-like) to disagree. No doubt it’ll switch at some point and she wants to make a comment about that but then the doorbell rings. 

“Uh, I better go get that.”

She places the pillow and blankets down on the dresser and turns to leave the room but Dean stops her. He makes promises of how he’s got this and she says she knows but she doesn’t stick around. The door needs answering and well, the urge to cry is hitting her again. This whole cancer thing… There’s too many scenarios that end in hurt.

When she gets to the door, she’s managed to stop any tears from falling and has taken a deep breath. She tugs it open and before she can say anything, the man on the front steps speaks.

“Hi, I'm looking for Mrs. Boland.”

She offers up a smile. “That’s me. Can I help you?”

“I'm hoping you can.” Something doesn’t feel right and she’s about to ask what it is specifically that he needs help with when he pulls out a badge and holds it up to her. Her stomach drops when she notes he’s FBI. “Can I come in?”

“Oh, uh, sure. Come in.” She steps aside and lets him pass before leading him towards the kitchen. At the stairs, she pauses momentarily. “Dean? Can you come down? There’s someone here to speak to us.”

She doesn’t wait for a response, simply leads the way into the kitchen where she grabs the coffee pot and holds it up. He nods at her and lets out a quiet, “thanks.” She smiles at him but also tries not to look at him too long and really, she doesn’t know how to act at all.

It’s as she’s grabbing the mugs that Dean finally comes down the stairs, “who is it?”

“Agent Turner is hoping we can help him with something,” Beth tells him as she fills each mug with coffee.

“Jimmy.”

She catches them shaking hands before Dean comes around to her side of the island counter. He takes his Boland Motors mug from her with a small smile. When Beth turns around fully with the other two mugs, she sees Turner (‘Agent’ feels  _ too _ formal and ‘Jimmy’ feels too casual) looking at the family photos that hang on the wall.

“Cute kids,” he comments as Beth settles his coffee down in front of him.

“Aw, thanks, we like them,” Dean jokes. “Yeah, most of the time.”

Turner does smile a little but it seems more about being polite than anything else. “And how's the neighborhood treating you? Pretty quiet, mostly, or?”

_ Okay _ , maybe it has nothing to do with Rio or her recent involvement in crime. Beth can deal with that. Although that voice in her head tells her that the FBI wouldn’t be involved in something unless it was pretty big. “Is something going on?”

“Oh, just some ugliness bleeding in from the city,” he comments and that just makes her worry all over again. “We try to stay on top of it.”

“Well, that sounds scary,” Dean comments.

“Yeah,”  Turner agrees. “You guys seen anything weird?”

“Like what?” Beth asks because it’s confusing and worrying all at the same time and she’s not about to give this guy anything he doesn’t already know.

“You know, people that don't quite go with the vibe here.”

“Actually, I have.” Dean’s words almost steal her breath because a part of her had actually forgotten than he had run into Rio at Kenny’s birthday. “That guy, the, um, the… the guy.” She can see Turner is watching her and she knows then that it definitely must be related to Rio and she’s hoping,  _ praying _ , that Dean doesn’t bring him up. “Question, is it illegal to throw dog poop into other people's trash bins? Because we have this guy in the neighborhood, who…” Beth nods her head in agreement as she feels relief flood right over her. “Uh, it's probably not FBI jurisdiction.” 

“I'm guessing not,” Beth says quickly, offering up a smile.

“Those are government bins, right? So…”

Turner chuckles and it does sound genuine but it’s clear it’s not what he came for. Instead he takes out a card with his number on and hands it over. Beth doesn’t miss the fact that he puts it on the island counter in front of her and not Dean, despite him talking the most. Everything, since Turner arrived at her front door, had been directed at her and that makes her squirm a little.

“Let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary.” 

“Copy that,” Dean assures. “We will be your eyes and ears.”

“Yes,” Beth agrees, making a point of picking up his card. “And thank you, Agent Turner.”

He nods a little. “Jimmy.”

Beth just smiles because  _ no _ , that’s not going to happen. Whatever he wants,  _ whoever _ he wants, she’s not about to give it to him. Luckily, Dean offers to show Turner out but it’s as they’re leaving the kitchen that it strikes her that her new deal with Rio could be starting up at any time. How was she possibly going to be able to work with him now that the FBI were knocking on her door? Everything seems so distant but yet close at the same time. Her mind is racing and she can’t stop playing with the card in her hand.

Dropping it to the counter, she moves to grab her coat and keys. She’s just got the former pulled on when Dean comes back into the room. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Ruby just called. She needs my help with something.”

Dean nods a little. “I wonder what that Agent is investigating.”

And of course Dean didn’t put two and two together. There was never any real fear of him bringing up Rio but that doesn’t make her feel better. She just smiles. “Well, if he’s looking around here, it can’t be anything too interesting.”

He laughs a little at that. “ _ Right _ .”

* * *

_ When Beth stepped out the back exit of Dairy Queen after closing up, she didn’t expect to see Rio stood there, clearly breathless, or for the cop car that suddenly pulled into the parking lot a few seconds later. It had its lights on and Rio barely looked at her as he leant up against the wall, taking her hand so he could pull her closer until she was at his side and all he said was the word, “two.” _

_ “Hey, what are you two doing?” _

_ Beth tried to catch Rio’s eye but he refused to look at her. Sighing, she turned to the officer who was pointing a flashlight towards them. There was lighting in the parking lot but it was dim and she had turned off the exterior lights of the building when she locked up. He had it aimed almost directly against their eyes, and Beth has to narrow hers a little against it. _

_ “Oh, hey, officer,” she said in her sweetest voice. “I just closed up.” _

_ “You work here?” _

_ She turned fully so he could see her outfit and then held up the keys before gesturing towards the building. “I do. I’m Beth Boland. I can show you if you like?” _

_ “No,” the officer said, shaking his head before looking at Rio _ _. “You know him?” _

_ “Oh.” She glanced briefly at Rio. “Yeah, he’s my friend. And my ride home actually.” _

_ “How long has he been here tonight?” _

_ “I'm right here,” Rio muttered. _

_ The word ‘two’ struck her and she hoped she got the meaning right. “Has to be a couple of hours. He swung by and when I told him I was closing up, he offered to stick around and take me home after.” _

_ The officer doesn’t look too happy about that and it makes her worry that she’s said the wrong thing. “Anyone to confirm that?” _

_ “It’s been pretty dead,” Beth admitted, which was true. She had been bored and ended up reading a book behind the counter for the last two or so hours of her shift. “I can show you the receipts if you like?” _

_ “Cameras?” _

_ “Don’t work.” She made a point of looking annoyed. “There’s one in the back room where we keep the safe but the rest are just for show. I tried talking to my manager but he won’t listen.” _

_ “Seems dangerous,” the cop agreed. _

_ “Well, I don’t usually close up on my own this late but that doesn’t make it any better.” _

_ “And you’re sure he’s been here a couple of hours?” he asked, giving her the chance to change her story but Beth already knew that she wouldn’t. She wasn’t sure what she was lying to cover up but she did know that this offer was hell bent on getting Rio and she couldn’t just let that happen. _

_ “At least,” Beth said. “Total lifesaver, honestly.” _

_ With no reason to find her story untrue, he finally switched off the flashlight and tilted his head in her general direction. “Sorry to bother you, Ms Boland.” _

_ “It was no trouble.” _

_ She smiled at him and kept doing so until he was in his car and driving away again. Slowly, she walked in the direction of Rio’s car and it was only when she was sure the cop car was out of sight that she changed directions to head towards the bus stop. _

_ “Elizabeth,  _ wait _.” _

_ He grabbed her hand before she could get too far and tugged her back. She did her best to yank her hand away but his grip was too tight and she had no choice but to look back at him in frustration. He let go of her immediately and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. _

_ “What the hell did I just give you an alibi for?” _

_ “You really wanna know?” _

_ Beth glared at him because  _ no _ , she didn’t want to know but now she was out of options. How could she not find out? “What choice do I have?” _

_ “I’m sorry.” And he did look it, even hung his head a little. “It ain’t even that bad.” _

_ “He didn’t seem to think so.” _

_ “He’s been after me for ages.” _

_ “Because you’re a  _ criminal _.” _

_ And she’s absolutely sure about it and he has the audacity to look offended which made her scoff. She might not ask questions or get involved but she knows that what he’s into isn’t on the up and up and therefore, it stands to reason, that he’s a criminal. _

_ “This time it was a car.” _

_ “You were stealing it?” _

_ “Yeah, me and this guy I work with but the cops showed up.” _

_ Beth took a deep breath. “He saw you?” _

_ “For a second,” Rio admitted. “I took off running and I knew you was working so….” _

_ “I lied for you.” _

_ “I know and I know you don’t wanna be involed but-” _

_ “But  _ nothing _ , Rio! You act like you’ve got this whole thing under control but you could have been arrested. What do you think will happen when you get caught? Especially when you’re into bigger things because you will be.” _

_ “Mama, this ain’t-” _

_ “Don’t you dare,” she snapped. “I did not just lie for you so you could stand there and tell me it ‘ain’t known of my business.'" _

_ He blinked a little at her in surprise but the next minute he burst out laughing. “Was that supposed to be me?” _

_ She glared at him. “Sounds just like you.” _

_ “Harsh.” _

_ And even she struggled not to laugh a little then because who was she kidding? Wanting to be involved in that part of his life or not, she cared about him and there was no way she was going to stand there and not help him. _

_ “It wasn’t fair what you just did,” she told him. _

_ He stopped laughing and nodded, face completely serious. “I know. I owe you.” _

_ Taking a deep breath, Beth stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around him. She hugged him tightly, head rested against his chest as he hugged her back. “You don’t owe me anything. Just… Please, try not to do that again.” _

Beth can’t stop thinking about that night, about how he kissed the top of her head and promised that he wouldn’t and he hadn’t. She had never had to lie to the police for him ever again. She wasn’t sure if he ever needed an alibi after that but if he did, he never went to her. Now standing there in her kitchen, looking at Rio, she can’t help but see the correlation to that night. Sure, he hadn’t come to her and asked her to lie but she was still doing it and this time to the FBI.

Rio didn’t seem to see the problem though which was, well,  _ typical _ and at least that hadn’t changed about him. His  blase attitude about potential FBI involvement should be somewhat reassuring to her but it isn’t and it only frustrates her that he seems so unphased. 

He’s opening up the front door as she reaches the stairs so she calls out to him, “hey, wait up.”

Stopping, he looks back at her, his boys stopping too, but he motions for them to go on before he turns fully to face her. “We ain’t discussing it no more. You either clean it or you don’t but I’m getting my money.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

Without waiting, she heads for her bedroom because talking to him with Annie and Ruby so close by just doesn’t feel right. When she enters her room, she leaves the door open and goes to stand by the bed. The clicking of it shutting tells her that he did follow.

“So, what’s this about?”

“Do you remember all those years ago when I lied for you?” She turns to find him still by the door and his brow furrows. “When I was working at Dairy Queen, that cop saw you stealing a car.”

He smiles a little as recognition washes over him. “Yeah, you was pissed.”

“And now I’m lying to the FBI.”

“Didn’t ask you to.”

“Oh,  _ okay _ , so if I told him all about you, you wouldn’t have cared?”

“Nah, not really.” And he seems to unbothered that it takes her by surprise. “Then you’d have to explain about how you robbed that store.”

She sighs, sitting down on the bed. “Aren’t you even a little worried?”

“Nah, FBI been sniffing around me for a while,” he admits which makes her blink. “Ain’t got nothing and they think you’re a new angle. He’s grasping.”

“Yeah, well, I need to look out for myself. I can’t rely on you to do it. I can’t just drop off the face of the Earth if this goes South.”

And  _ that _ changes his attitude because now he’s narrowing his eyes at her. “Yeah, you shouldn’t trust me. That’s just good sense in this line of work.”

“But?” she asks because she can sense it coming a mile off.

“You said you wanna forget our history,” he reminds. “Well, then, you gotta let go of me leaving ‘cause that’s in the past.”

“I can’t… I can’t just  _ forget _ .” And Beth isn’t too sure why it’s bothering her now, why it’s all bubbling up. Maybe it’s the fear that they’re risking everything by doing this work when the FBI are poking around or maybe it’s something deeper, something that’s been there from the start, but whatever it is, she’s not sure she can stop it. “It hurt and I  _ waited _ and I just…”

“You had your chance for us to reconnect.” He turns towards her door, ready to leave. “You gotta drop it if you wanna move on. We ain’t gonna be able to work well together if you don’t.”

But Beth is still stuck on specific words. “What do you mean I had my chance to reconnect?”

He stops and looks back at her, rolling his eyes as he clocks her confused look. “Don’t stand there like you don’t know.”

“Rio, I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

At first it seems like he’s going to leave but then he walks right past her and over to her dresser. He picks up the photo he had been looking at the day of Kenny’s party and holds it out to her. She takes it from him so she can get a closer look. Funnily enough, it’s a picture from Kenny’s first birthday. Beth’s holding him and Dean is by her side. They look happy, all three of them smiling or laughing.

“I came back.”

Her eyes snaps up to his and it feels like her heart is going a million miles an hour. “ _ What _ ?”

“Was about a year after I left,” he tells her. “Knew his birthday was coming up so I got him something.” He reaches out towards the photo and his finger touches the baby blanket that Kenny is wrapped up in. Her breath catches.  _ No _ , she thinks.  _ That’s not right at all.  _ “I wrapped it up and attached a note with my number. I fucked up but I wanted you to know where I was, how to contact me.”

“No.” She looks up at him, shaking her head. “It can’t be. That blanket… It was a gift from Dean’s mother.”

Rio scoffs. “It’s got K.B. and his date of birth stitched into one corner with blue thread that's a coupe shades darker than the blanket.”

It’s like everything stops because he’s right. The blanket has been tucked away for years and there's no way he could know unless... A nd it hits her all at once. Dean had come home early to help her with setting up the party. He had walked into their bedroom where she was dressing Kenny and held up the blanket, declaring it was from his mother. It wasn’t wrapped, there was no note, and she had never actually gotten around to thanking Judith for it. God, her brain had been on autopilot for the first couple of years as a mother, everything blurry as she tried to navigate her role while also usually lending a hand to Annie when she needed help with Sadie.

“I didn’t get a note,” she tells him, already unable to stop herself from crying and he sighs, giving her a look like he believes her and just- “but you knew that, right? I mean, you’re weirdly observant, you must have realised that I never got it.”

“Maybe I thought you didn’t care.”

She wipes at her eyes. “ _ Rio _ .”

He rolls his shoulders a little before sitting down on her bed. She takes the chance to put the photo back before she joins him. He puts his head back and lets out a groan that’s soft but still filled with so much frustration.

“I was stupid, yeah? I was in-” He seems to catch himself and when Beth frowns at him, he looks away. “It’d been a year and I didn’t think you’d forgive me. Figured if I left the note, you’d have the choice to see me or not. One day, I saw Kenny had the blanket.”

“And you assumed I got the note and ignored it.”

“I was pissed for maybe a month or so before I realised I was a fucking idiot.”

“But you still didn’t come back,” she notes.   
  


He looks her right in the eye. “I had my reasons for leaving and I realised they didn’t change.”

She wants to ask what those reasons are, to talk about it all properly, but from how quickly he turns away, she’s sure he won’t answer her. “You said I had my chance.”

“Still could’ve gotten the note and ignored it.” He sighs, running a hand over his face. “If we’re gonna work together, we gotta let this shit go. You can’t keep bringing it up, it…”   


“Pisses you off?”

He nods and she gets it, realises his remark about her having her chance to reconnect was to try and turn it on her. For the first time since he came back, she can see it on him. The guilt. It’s in his eyes and the slight rocking of his jaw and the tension in his shoulders. The temptation to reach out and touch him is almost too much. It’s all consuming to want to hug him ‘cause sitting there on her bed, looking the way he does, he’s  _ her _ Rio and it’s like nothing has changed.

Before she gets the chance to really sort through her options. He stands up. “Get the money sorted,” is all he says before he leaves the room and Beth is left there, stunned. The silence swallowing her up and slowly filling her with anger because sure there’s a slim possibility that he didn’t see it but chances are, way back when, Dean saw the note that came with the blanket and deliberately kept it from her. She’s angry at Rio for not trying harder, she’s angry at herself for not being able to figure out what could have made him leave, and she’s angry at Dean for… for… _well,_ for a lot of things. So many things that she’s beginning to lose count.


	10. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Annie has an emergency and the girls have to figure out a solution.
> 
>  **Past:** 1) Beth lies to help Rio 2) Beth has an invitation for Rio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

Admittedly, it annoys Beth a little that shopping goes so well. Her map definitely came in handy and splitting up the list of potential targets really helped to ease her worries. There are enough shops marked on her map that they shouldn't have to hit the same store again for a while. On top of that, the money really is that good, just like Annie had said, so when they do eventually go back to the same stores it shouldn't be an issue. Still, it's nerve-wracking at first, especially when Beth has to wait for the money to be checked for authenticity but as soon as those green lights flash and the receipt is tucked safely into her purse, there's just a rush that goes through her.

The annoyed part comes in waves. The FBI is sniffing around and it's worrying and of course, Rio is so blasé about the whole thing. It's so irritating to her that she feels like she's fumbling around and he's just going about like nothing is wrong. It's worse that she can't deny that he was kind of right _. _ It is easy to do the shop and the more she thinks about it the more she realises that it's not suspicious at all. Not to mention the FBI has no reason to even look at her shopping habits. Still, it seems all the worry was for nothing and, well, it might be a little petty and Beth will never admit it out loud, but she hates that Rio was right.

Although when it's not waves of feeling annoyed, it's euphoria. She can feel it in the pit of her stomach, ready to grow and it will. Once all of the cash is out of the way and there’s no fear the kids or Dean will come across it, she’ll be able to completely relax and bathe in the sensation of actually pulling it all off. She’s almost done hiding the money when Dean comes in through the front door carrying the mail.

“Hey,” he calls, coming towards the kitchen to join her. “What you doing?”

She discreetly covers up the tray, hiding the rest of the cash, before closing up the last cereal box. “Just, uh, some reorganizing.”

He puts the mail down and rubs his hands together. “Here, let me help.”

“It’s okay,” she says quickly. “I have a system.”

“Okay,” he says as she begins to put things away.

When she looks back at him, he’s picked the bag of dog food up from the counter. She quickly puts her hand up. “I- I already fed the dog.”

“Oh, okay,” he says, putting the bag down. “Well, what can I do to help?”

She puts the last box of cereal in the cupboard and shuts the doors, glancing his way with a furrowed brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I'm back home,” he says, pulling a glass from the cupboard. “So, you know, I want to be useful.”

“You should be resting,” Beth points out, that feeling of doubt already bubbling up inside of her.

“No, I'm okay.”

And  _ that _ doesn’t help. She turns to him as he opens the refrigerator door and studies him for a moment, her mind racing. If he was sick then surely he would want to rest? Surely he would be worried? But then, when had Dean ever worried about anything in his life? He didn’t seem to be worried about the state of their finances until she found out about them. It’s impossible for Beth not to feel frustrated. She feels suspicious of every little thing but at the same time, it all feels like the exact way she would expect Dean to behave. Behaving like there’s nothing serious going on.

“What did the doctor say?”

“We'll know more after the appointment,” he tells her, pouring himself a drink. “Whether it's going to be chemotherapy, or radiation, or whatever.”

Beth nods her head as he turns back to the fridge. It all sounds so… So  _ terrifying _ . There’s a lot of factors she hadn’t even considered. A diagnosis is one thing but then there’s treatment and, even if that’s successful, there’s aftercare. She can’t imagine he’ll be one hundred percent just because the cancer is gone. And that’s even if it stays gone. She shakes her head a little, pushing the thoughts away, and then the horrible sense of doubt that immediately follows. 

She decides there’s no point in overthinking it all now, she’ll just have to wait for the appointment. It’ll give her the information she needs to decide how to approach even the idea that he might be lying.

For now, she decides to throw him a bone, albeit a small one. “Um, you know, you could fill my car up with gas.”

“Yeah? Yay!

“That would be nice.”

And it turns out a small bone is still pretty big to Dean because before the words are even out of her mouth, he’s hugging her. She might be waiting to see what the doctor says but she can’t just forget everything that’s happened so, as his body makes contact with hers, she turns a little away from him.

He immediately pulls back. “Sorry, that was, uh… That was…”

“It's okay,” Beth cuts in at the same time he says, “just sort of forgot.”

She nods because it’s really not that surprising. He had managed to  _ forget _ a lot of things for God knows how long. She had been in the dark for way too long and not only that but did he  _ forget _ he was married while he was with Amber? Did he  _ forget _ he had a family when he was losing all of their money? It’s all bitter and sudden, the thoughts that rush to her, and she wants to be able to push such things aside at the drop of a hat because if he really is sick and if it is bad, she needs to be there.

“My keys are by the door,” she says, motioning to the front of the house.

While she does offer up a smile, she can’t hold it. She looks back down at the island counter and doesn’t even glance his way as he offers up a “thanks” before heading in the direction of the front door. It’s only once he’s stepped out of the kitchen that she finally looks up at his retreating back. The conflict of emotions are already too much and she can’t begin to figure out how on Earth she’s going to handle what more is to come.

* * *

It’s like the universe knows that she’s beginning to fret because it decides to throw a problem in her face that’s big enough to grab her attention entirely for the time being. Really, a part of Beth isn't all that surprised when Annie calls together an emergency meeting the next morning. She feels surprisingly calm and has already poured the coffee by the time Annie and Ruby walk into her kitchen. The latter sits down at the island counter while the former paces by the sink, not even pausing as she snaps up her coffee and gulps down more than she probably should in one go.

Beth comes around to sit at the island counter, passing Ruby’s coffee to her. The two of them share a look before turning to Annie who is back to pacing but, at the very least, has set her cup down.

“Okay, you are gonna  _ have _ to tell us what’s going on,” Ruby cuts in. “You’re making me feel on edge just watching you.”

“So, I met this guy,” Annie starts.

“ _ That’s _ why you called an emergency meeting?” Beth asks in disbelief.

Annie shoots her a look so dirty that Beth almost shrinks back. “ _ No _ . He worked at the store where I went  _ shopping _ , you know, for gang friend.”

“First of all, that’s a bad idea in general, we’re supposed to be low key,” Ruby points out. “And  _ gang friend _ ? We know his name.”

“I don’t know,” Annie says, throwing her hands up in the air as she finally stops pacing. “It’s a codename.”

"Yeah because no one will think of the guy with a neck tattoo and golden gun that the feds might be looking at when they hear the name gang friend," Ruby remarks, earning a slightly offended look from Annie.

Beth sips at her coffee. “ _ So _ , this guy?”

“Right, well, I was lonely and he gave me his number so I called him over,” Annie explains. “It was going great but then he sneaked out.”

“Still doesn’t count as an emergency,” Ruby says.

“He left with my receipt.”

Beth narrows her eyes a little. “He stole your receipt?”

“I mean, he must have because I've looked everywhere and it's gone.”

Part of Beth doubts that. She can’t even begin to count all the times over the years that Annie declared something was gone and it was just somewhere she hadn’t bothered to look. “Everywhere? Have you checked your pocket?”

“What do you think I am, an idiot?” And she must either have the same flashes of memories or she finally hears how the whole situation sounds because she points a finger at Ruby. “Don't answer that.”

And, well, it isn’t so bad yet. It could possibly be fixed. “Okay, well how much was it for?”

Annie puts a hand to her head. “$20,000 worth of flat screens.”

“Oh, my God,” Beth lets out in disbelief as Ruby asks, “who steals a receipt, anyway?”

“Well, he wrote his number on it,” Annie offers in way of explanation. “So I guess he just didn't want me to call him again.”

Beth scrunches her nose up. “Isn't it in your phone?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Like, who is this guy?”

“Uh, some Brad, or a Brian?” Her eyes narrow in concentration like she’s trying to conjure up the name of the guy she’d invited over to spend the night. “I'm picturing the nametag, and I feel like there was a ‘B’ in there.” For a second, Beth feels a little guilty for the judgemental look she gives but she practically feel the same one radiating off of Ruby so the guilt quickly disappears. “Look, Sadie is gone, okay? I was in a dark place.”

“Well call his shady ass and get it back,” Ruby says.

“I'm trying, homie. He is ghosting me hard.”

“Wow,” Beth starts, unable to stop the sarcasm from dripping into her voice. “He sounds like a winner.”

“Yeah, I know, Beth. I guess he got what he came for.”

That’s enough to make her falter just a little because while it was stupid for Annie to call on someone she barely knew and leave her receipt out in the open for him to take, he clearly wasn’t innocent in any of this either. “Okay,” she decides. “We will fix this.”

“How?” Ruby asks, capturing Beth’s attention. “You can't do returns for cash without a receipt.”

“Okay, well I personally would love a solution that doesn't involve crawling back to Brad-Brian.”   
  
And while Annie sounds hopeful that they could actually avoid doing that, Beth’s not entirely convinced. “Like?”

“Well, like, we could give  _ gang friend  _ the cash that we do have, and the flat screens,” Annie suggests.

“Yeah, 'cause that went so well with the Hummels,” Beth says.

“Nope,” Ruby says, shaking her head. “I value my life. I am not going back to those lunatics short again.” She glances at Beth. “No offence.”

She shrugs a little. “I very much agree.”

“But that’s the thing, we have you,” Annie says while gesturing to Beth. “You both remember each other and everything is out, so you could get him to give us an extension or something.”

“Firstly, I already told you before, I don’t have any strings to pull with  _ Rio _ ,” she says, holding up one finger and then another. “And secondly, even if I did, we’ve already failed to deliver once before. I doubt he allows for more than one slip up.”

“Yeah,” Ruby agrees. “It’s not like all that history has given us lenience before now.” 

“I guess so,” Annie mumbles.

Ruby rolls her eyes a little. “Oh, and can you  _ never _ call him gang friend again?”

“I thought a codename would be good!” Annie exclaims. “With the feds on our backs and stuff.”

"Again, codenames only work when they're not so obvious," Ruby says, narrowing her eyes.

Beth nods. “And besides, they're not even here right now.”

“Well, fine.” Annie huffs out, leaning back against the counter. “I guess not  _ but _ while we’re on the subject… You’re usually all-” She gestures vaguely to Beth. “-weird anyway when it comes to him but after he refused to take the money back, you were extra weird.”

“We’re not talking about this right now.”

“You kind of were,” Ruby says and Beth gives her a look betrayal. “I mean,  _ sorry _ , but you disappeared to talk to him and were acting all strange when you came back in.”

“We tried to talk to you,” Annie points out. “But you avoided answering.”

It’s true. After she had brushed it off, the two of them hadn’t pried further but she should have guessed they would start again. “He said he came back.”

“When?” Ruby asks but a second later Annie lets out a breath,  _ “oh _ , you mean back then?”

Beth nods. “Apparently he delivered a baby blanket for Kenny. You know the one,” she motions vaguely, “with his initials and date of birth in one corner?”

Ruby gawks at her a little. “ _ That _ was Rio?”

“You said it was from Judith,” Annie points out.   
  


“That’s what Dean told me,” Beth says. “Apparently there was a note with information about how to contact Rio and when he saw Kenny with the blanket, he assumed I threw the note away and didn’t bother to get in touch.”

“So, he just assumed?” Annie asks. “That just sounds…  _ Stupid _ . Why didn’t he just come up to you?”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Beth lets out a breath.

“B, what else is bothering you?”

She looks at Ruby. “I  _ know _ Rio is telling the truth about the blanket. He knows about the little details that you can’t see in any of the pictures and the blanket is tucked away for safekeeping. So, if he’s right about that, maybe he’s right about Dean faking cancer.”

“You’ve got an appointment soon, right?” Ruby asks.

Beth nods and Annie tries to offer up a sympathetic smile. “Well, there you go. What kind of doctor would  _ lie _ about something like that? See what they have to say before you get worked up.”

“Yeah,” Beth agrees, feeling better that they’re also thinking the same way as her. “But, Annie, I'm sorry. It looks like we're gonna have to go find your...  _ the guy _ .”

Annie groans, putting her head down on the counter as Ruby asks, “could you be worse with names?” 

* * *

The journey to find Brad-Brian is just about as productive as one could imagine. It doesn’t help that Annie doesn’t remember his name and that her description could fit quite a few of the guys working on the shop floor. It’s pitiful really and when asking the first employee they see leads absolutely nowhere, Beth swipes a nearby clipboard and pen before handing her bag off to Ruby.

She approaches a different employee who is working alone, restocking shelves, and begins talking about inventory and corporate and just a ton of things that are rolling off her tongue as she glances down at the clipboard as if there’s anything remotely related there. And bless the woman -  _ Rita _ \- she looks so confused, more so when Beth starts going on about layoffs and how  _ Mark _ has been requesting certain employee information for the last hour.

“Who’s Mark?” Rita asks.

Beth stares at her for a moment and hopes that Rita is so far down the chain of command that she won’t actually know any of the names of the people at headquarters. “Mark? Ted’s boss. Hired Bill?” The fact that Rita just looks even more confused feels like a good step in the right direction so she does her best to sound like this should be common knowledge as she adds, “overhauled the entire division with Ed?”

Rita’s brow knits together. “Ed Fielding?”

And  _ sure _ , Beth thinks, frowning and giving the most unimpressed look she can muster up. “What other Ed would I be talking about? How long have you worked here?”

“Fifteen years,” she replies, looking much brighter as she puffs her chest out a little.

“Wow, Rita,” Beth says, shaking her head a little.

“Uh, I am so sorry. I-”

“Just give me that list.”

Rita begins to turn away to go and get said list so Beth does the same, unable to hide her smile as she holds the clipboard close, drumming her fingers against it. Annie is already laughing, looking completely over the moon at the sudden change of events.

“Big pimping,” she exclaims while Ruby says, in disbelief, “it’s like your superpower.”

“It’s the clipboard,” Beth offers, shrugging a little but she has to admit, it  _ does _ feel good.

“Oh, damn,” Annie says, clapping her on the shoulder.

Now all they have to do is wait. Beth hovers close by so Rita can find her and makes a show of going over the clipboard but never allowing any passing employees to actually see it. Annie and Ruby continue to browse the shelves, pretending to be interested. As they wait, Beth only feels giddier. She knows how to lie, to some degree, always has but doing it now and for the sole purpose of being able to wash fake cash for a gang, well, that feels so much better than lying to one of the PTA moms - Linda - about how she absolutely did count all of the chocolate pieces before emptying them into dishes for free samples at the fundraiser when in reality  _ no _ , Beth definitely did not waste her time with that and instead focused on setting up the rest of the event.

_ Beth rounded the corner and paused briefly at the sight of Rio standing there outside of the library with his hands behind his back, clasping a brown paper bag. In front of him is Mr Hansley, Beth’s science teacher. He was generally one of the nicer ones but if the assumptions running through her head were accurate then she knew he wouldn’t be happy with whatever was in the bag. _

_ Picking up the pace a little, Beth moved down the corridor and got close enough to hear Mr Hansley say, “so I ask again, what are you doing hanging around here?” _

_ “Sorry I’m late!” Beth called out quickly. Both of them turned to face her, each looking confused, but Rio managed to recover quickly. “I had to swing by my locker first, I hope you weren’t waiting too long?” _

_ Rio licked at his lips as he tried to stop himself from smiling. “Nah, it’s cool.” _

_ “Miss Marks?” Mr Hansley said, attention shifting between the two of them. _

_ “ _ Oh! _ ” Beth put on her brightest smile. “I asked him to meet me here.” She lifted up the stack of books in her arms. “Tutoring session.” _

_ “For what exactly?” _

_ “English,” she explained. “Mrs Jones.” _

_ Mr Hansley laughed, giving a knowing nod but then he turned to Rio, no amusement left on his face. “And why couldn’t you tell me this?” _

_ “‘Cause I don’t need,” Rio remarked, glancing at Beth again. “She insisted. Was kind of hoping she wouldn’t show and I could go home.” _

_ “I just mentioned that it was one of my best subjects,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s so early in the year and he’s new and we know each other,” Mr Hansley looked a little surprised by that but Beth pushed on before he could say anything, “and so I thought I’d see how he was getting on. Maybe we could cover more subjects when we get a little further into the year.” _

_ “And you didn’t bring anything with you,” Mr Hansley noted. _

_ “She told me not to,” Rio remarked, gesturing vaguely to Beth. _

_ If she could, she would strangle him but with Mr Hansley’s attention turned back to her, all she could do was smile. “That’s right. I said I’d bring everything, that way I know it’s all there and he can’t make excuses to leave.” _

_ At that, Mr Hansley shook his head as a smile began to form. “Well alright, Miss Marks. I’ll leave you both to it.” He looked briefly at Rio before turning back to her and gesturing to the brown bag. “And remember, no eating in the library." _

_ Beth gave a slight nod and at that, he walked away and Beth pushed open the door to the library with her shoulder, not even waiting for Rio. She headed right over to the desk and dropped the pile of books onto it, being sure to keep a firm grasp of the brown paper bag. She could sense Rio hovering close by but ignored him as she set to work on returning her books. _

_ As soon as that was done, Beth headed towards the back of the library where she knew they wouldn’t be disturbed. She found a table she liked and dropped her bag onto one of the chairs before settling into the seat beside it. Rio chose the one opposite her. _

_ “Do I want to know what’s in here?” she asked, holding the bag up. _

_ “My lunch.” _

_ “Drugs for lunch,” Beth said, nodding her head. “I’m sure that’s nutritious.” _

_ Rio rolled his eyes, slouching in his chair. “Why’d you ask then?” _

_ She placed the bag down on the table, letting him pick it back up. “I don’t know, wishful thinking? Are you selling them?” _

_ “It don’t matter.” He made the bag as small as possible then shoved it into the pocket of his hoodie. “So, you always able to lie on the spot like that?” _

_ “It’s a useful thing to be able to do,” Beth remarked. “Plus, it wasn’t exactly hard. I’m one of the few people that doesn’t mess around in Mr Hansley’s class.” _

_ “And how’d you know about the test?” _

_ Beth laughed a little as she slouched in her own chair. “Mrs Jones gives that test to every freshman. I heard she changes it up every few years but it’s generally the same and it  _ always _ happens at this time of year.” _

_ “That just seems…” Rio’s brow furrowed. “ _ Sad _.” _

_ “Yeah,” Beth agreed. “I could never really figure out why she did it. It’s too early in the year to really gauge how her classes are going. Some say it’s past progress, others say it’s so she can figure out her class. Who’s gonna behave, who won’t, who has potential, who doesn’t.” _

_ “How’d you do on it?” _

_ “Passed with no trouble but James Halford failed so bad that he might as well have not taken the test but nothing ever came of it.” _

_ Rio shook his head a little in bewilderment. “So, how long we gotta stay in here for?” _

_ “An hour, maybe a little less,” Beth said as she dug through her backpack, earning a disapproving noise from Rio. “Mr Hansley will check otherwise. How are you in English anyway?” _

_ “Good enough.” _

_ Beth grabbed everything she needed from her bag - pens, papers, books - and dropped it all onto the table between them. “Alright, prove it then.” _

_ And he did, for a surprisingly long time. They managed to get just shy of 25 minutes into studying with little bits of pointless conversation here and there before Beth decided it was a good time to either start packing up or at least suggest a break. She wasn’t too surprised to find he’s actually pretty good at English, not as good as her mind but still enough to get high grades. She had already assumed he was fairly smart but it was nice to get some kind of true indication. _

_ “So,” she started, gesturing vaguely to him. “Isn’t a brown paper bag a bit… Predictable?” _

_ “Figured it would be inconspicuous,” he noted as he finished writing something down. “Want me to define that word for you? Spell it even?” _

_ Beth rolled her eyes as she put her pen down and settled back into her seat. “No.” _

_ “I got a question,” Rio said, putting his own pen down. “Outside when you was lying, you enjoyed that, yeah?” _

_ She frowned. “No, I didn’t  _ enjoy _ it.” _

_ “Yeah, you ain’t so good at lying after all.” He tilted his head to the side a little, considering her. “That weren’t your first time and I don’t know why you do it but you lie a lot.” _

_ “I…” Beth swallowed. He couldn’t possibly know that but then, she wasn’t entirely sure she knew him well enough to be confident of that. “I’ve had to tell a few white lies to help out my mom and my sister. Out there, it was nice to have to lie about something else for a change.” Before Rio could respond, she picked up her pen and nudged his book with it. “Come on, we’re almost done. Afterwards, maybe we can find a subject you’re better at than me.” _

* * *

In the end, they tracked down the receipt thief. His name is Brian, one of the ones Annie had considered and well, at least that was some kind of positive. Their interaction with him, however, was not. Firstly, he’s got a family, and secondly, _somehow_ , Beth found herself rifling through a nearby dumpster with Annie and Ruby in search for the receipt which he had thrown away. That had then turned into arguments where she somehow ended up being insulted for not having sex in a while and Ruby was made out to not be family and the whole thing was such a mess that Beth couldn’t even begin to make sense of it.

She had simply found her way home and it's all quiet, Emma being the only one awake. Carefully, Beth walked to her room where she stripped out of her clothes to shower before Dean and the rest of the kids woke up. The shower did wonders to stop the smell that had followed her home from the dumpster but it also gave her thoughts the chance to unravel a little so she could decipher them better. The night had all been so stressful and  _ stupid _ . She doesn’t really blame Annie, she’s not the married one, and  _ he _ should have disclosed that. Not to mention, the situation had her wondering if maybe she was being too easy on Dean, cancer or not, he willingly slept with someone else. Amber maybe could be to blame too, she  _ knew _ but also, she wasn’t the one who had a partner. And then Beth began to think about recent times, began to consider that maybe she had suspected something wasn’t right, deep down. Brian’s partner certainly knew something was going on.

And then there’s Ruby. They might not have met until they were in their teens but Ruby was just as much her sister as Annie. Blood didn’t matter. If it did, her dad never would have left and Dean wouldn’t have had it in his heart to put his kids in danger. She appreciated Annie wanting to stick up for her but the fact they’re sisters by blood means nothing. They would both easily defend Ruby with the same intensity but, unfortunately, she was at the receiving end of it this time. In this whole messed up situation, she’s got Dean lying to her for years about different things and a new connection to Rio that has her unaware of what way is up half the time but  _ somehow _ , she’s at odds with Ruby and Annie now as well.

It really needs to stop. She's sick of losing people. Dean pushed himself away, that one she can deal with. Him dying, she can’t, but she’s perfectly fine with no longer being with him. However, when it comes to Ruby and Annie, she  _ needs _ them. They keep her world together in ways that her kids simply can’t. They’re both so ingrained in her now that she can’t begin to think of them not being in her life. They’ve all argued before, plain and simple, but this time feels different. It has her sitting on her bed, listening to the sounds of Dean and the kids in the kitchen, unable to move as thoughts of Rio suddenly flood her. He had been so ingrained in her as well but now look at where they are. It doesn’t bode well for her current relationships and that scares her a little.

_ “Do you ever think it’s weird that we haven’t really told other people about each other?” Beth asked. They both sat at their usual bench at the park. Her on one of the seats while he was beside her, only he’s sat on the actual table part. _

_ “Not really.” He looked down at her. “Guessing you do though.” _

_ “Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of nice,” Beth admitted. “Ruby and Dean have both technically met you before but not properly. No one knows how close we are.” _

_ “You ain’t got much of a family.” Rio gave a small, apologetic smile but he’s not wrong so Beth shrugged slightly. "Plus, you met my Ma." She nodded a little because technically that's true. For the year they both at school, his mother had come in to talk about his school work. She had met Beth because their little tutoring session that one time for Mrs Jones' English test had lead to regular studying sessions. Apparently, his mom kept asking to have Beth over for dinner but Rio always made up some kind of excuses. It's not like she could take it to heart, she hadn't even told her fiance about him save for that one time they technically met. “The rest of mine are little spread out and a bit much. I like this.” _

_ She hummed a little in agreement. Their little bubble was pretty perfect. It was also easier to just relax and not overthink his....  _ Interests _ too much. Still, things were changing in her life and Beth had brought Annie, Ruby, and Dean along for the ride but the fact that no one truly knew about Rio really had put up a roadblock so she couldn’t bring him along as well. _

_ “Well, I was thinking.” She cleared her throat. “I like what we’ve got too. It’s simple. We see each other on occasion and we talk, it’s great, but we’ve known each other for a few years now. I mean, you’re practically family and I don’t think you should be kept separate anymore.” _

_ He frowned at her. “What’d you mean?” _

_ “Dean’s inviting his cousins and some guys he’s known his whole life to the wedding - they’re like his brothers - and my side is looking a little sparse which I’m perfectly okay with.” And she was. She didn’t want to invite people just for the sake of it. Outside of Annie and Ruby, there were a few friends - some from school, some from work, others she’d met through her various hobbies - but the majority of the guest list would be Dean’s invites. “Only, my side is missing someone.” _

_ Rio blinked at her. “You want me to come to your wedding?” _

_ “Yeah,” Beth said. “You can bring someone if you want. A date or someone from your family." She considered it for a moment. "Yeah, family sounds like a good choice.” _

_ At that, he scoffed. “Mama, I’m seventeen not seven, I don’t need my mom to hold my hand just to go to your wedding.” _

_ “So that means you’re going to come?” _

_ She knew the answer before he even said it. The little sigh he gave and the slight change in his expression before he was able to contain it, told her. “Nah.” _

_ “Oh, right. That’s okay. I really felt bad not asking.” _

_ “I want to,” he clarified. “Dean might be a dumbass.” She gave him an unamused look but he just smiled, avoiding her eye. “And I’m pretty sick to death of you being mistaken for my babysitter or some shit so it’d be nice to actually meet some people.” _

_ “But?” _

_ “Your wedding date changed?” _

_ A couple of weeks ago, after she had told Rio it was definitely happening, he had bumped into her while she was doing some research (shopping) to get a better idea of what she wanted for all the final touches. She had told him the date back then, back when she wasn’t sure if she  _ should  _ invite him or not. _

_ “No,” she told him. “The venue and all that is booked.” _

_ “Then I can’t.” From the look on his face, she could probably guess before he even said. “Work stuff. It’s too big to miss.” _

_ “I get it.” She didn’t but she wanted to. _

_ “Y’all gonna take pictures and shit though, yeah?” he asked to which she grinned, nodding slightly. “A’ight, well I expect the full rundown after.” _


	11. Capture Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** The girls reconnect and Beth has no choice but to tell some truths and lies when she's forced to speak to Turner. 
> 
> **Past:** Beth captures some moments with Rio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not sure if I mentioned this but while I’m keeping a lot of things the same as they were in season one, I’m going with the season two ages for the Boland kids so it would be (from eldest to youngest): Kenny, Danny, Emma, and Jane :)
> 
> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

After a weird night of dumpster-diving and falling out with her two best friends, it was like the final straw as Turner showed up at her house again. Beth really couldn’t catch a break. She’d just piled all of the kids into the van and was about to climb in herself when he showed up. It had seemed like an easy enough situation to get out of, especially considering how well shopping had gone, and she even managed to joke about Dean and the dog poop. But then Turner took it in a different direction and actually showed her a picture of Rio. One of him by her house.

She hoped that her face didn’t show any recognition. In all honesty, she wasn’t entirely sure  _ what _ to say. Would it be okay to bring up their past? To pretend that she hadn’t actually seen him recently despite the picture showing he was in the area? It didn’t matter much though. It was crystal clear Turner was suspicious and she couldn’t have him talking to Dean about it. He would instantly recognise Rio from Kenny’s birthday party and just- She had hurriedly made promises to come by Turner’s office to explain everything, already making a note to talk to Rio about what they should or shouldn’t say.

The entire exchange is enough to make her worry. Nail-biting, leg-shaking, kind of worry. It’s driving her up the wall a little. She cleans her kitchen  _ twice _ and even allows herself to fall into the dark pit of her fights with Ruby and Annie just for something else to think about. It’s not too long after that before another distraction presents itself, one that Beth wishes hadn’t come at all.

It’s enough, at least, to distract her from the Turner-Rio dilemma she’s in and to force her and Annie into making up. Beth can still feel her heart hammering in her chest as she and Annie wait on the couch in front of her TV for Ruby to call. She remembers getting the phone call from Stan to tell her that Sara was back in the hospital and while she’s stable, he didn’t want to stay on the phone too long to explain most of it. He promised that either he or Ruby would call again as soon as they could to give updates and it was barely ten minutes after he hung up that Annie walked in through the side door.

They got to talking after that, Annie somewhat apologised for saying what she did in the dumpster -  _ “ _ _ You know, Beth, I'm really sorry, but it's not my problem that you haven't had sex since Jane was born, and it's all dried-up ass twigs in there.”  _ \- stating that it wasn’t her finest moment. Although she couldn’t help but point out that it could have been way worse. Beth’s not too sure about that but she’s happy enough for the distraction. Sara being in and out of hospital isn’t exactly news but really, it’s the not knowing that’s worrying. Stable or not, Beth can’t imagine what it must be like for her or Ruby and Stan. The most serious thing she had to take the kids to the hospital for was when Jane decided to jump off the swing and broke her arm.

“She’s gonna be alright though, isn’t she?”

Beth glances up from where she had been staring at the blanket in her lap to look at Annie. “Yeah, you know Sara. She’s probably got every nurse and doctor wrapped around her finger.”

“Right.” Annie nods a little too hard. “And Stan would have said when he called us, right?” She frowns. “Unless he had to rush off because it was bad.”

“ _ Don’t _ ,” Beth says, gaining the attention of her sister. “Okay? She’s on that medication, there’s no way it’s bad. Maybe they just… I don’t know, maybe they need to up the dosage or something or give her something slightly different.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re probably right.”

Just then Beth’s phone begins to buzz and she scrambles to pick it up, instantly answering it when she sees Ruby’s name light up her screen. “Hey, you got the both of us,” she says, hitting the loudspeaker button.

“Hey,” Annie says, shuffling closer. “How is she?”

There’s a soft sight from the other end of the line. “Her kidneys are basically non-functioning.”

Annie’s brow furrows. “What about the medication you got for her?”

“She wasn’t taking them.” And Beth can hear the guilt in Ruby’s voice as she explains it to them. “She was hoarding them ‘cause she was feeling better and was afraid we’d be unable to afford them further down the line. Kid didn’t want us to stress about not being able to afford it.” Ruby takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “Can you believe that?”

“I can,” Annie says.

“Yeah,” Beth agrees. “I mean, you and Stan made her. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that she would be thinking about you two instead of herself.”

“Just like you were thinking about her when…  _ You know _ .”

Ruby sniffles. “Thanks, you guys. We’re gonna talk to her about it some more.”

“Do you need us to come over?” Annie asks.

“Not yet,” she decides and Beth feels a little thankful for that. She has an idea but she needs to do the drop with Rio first before she can actually pull it off. “I’ll keep you guys updated.”

“We love you,” Beth tells her to which Annie makes a noise of agreement.

“Love you too.”

As they hang up the phone, Beth chews on her bottom lip, debating her plan. She’s definitely going to go through with it but she’s not entirely sure if it’s fair to spring it on Annie. It has never escaped her - despite her mountain of debt - that she was always better off that both her sister and Ruby in a magnitude of ways. The only time she was ever on even footing with the former was when they were both young and had to muddle through that whole mess together with little to no help for a lot of it.

Still, she figures this is the exact right occasion to suggest such a plan. “I was going to give Ruby my share of the money.”

Annie’s already nodding. “I’ll give her mine too. She’ll need as much as she can get for the hospital bills.”

Beth lets out a sigh of relief. “Okay, that’s good. I’m meeting with Rio soon so hopefully, we’ll have it all ready to give to her when she says we can visit.”

The two of them settle back into the couch feeling much more relaxed.  _ ‘ _ _ Basically non-functioning’ _ definitely wasn’t good but they had an income now and the medication had technically been working so they were on the right track before. It hardly seems fair that Sara would have to go through so much just to finally lose out when things finally had an opportunity to go right. Beth pushes the thoughts to the back of her mind, knowing that both Ruby and Stan would be going through the motions of fear and panic enough that she really shouldn’t as well. Besides, she’s got other things she’s got to deal with first before she can really be there for them.

* * *

It’s frustrating for Beth how nonchalant Rio is the entire time they’re in her car discussing the FBI while he counts the money. Especially when the only thing he seems to get riled up about is her asking him to stay in the car and talk about what the hell she’s going to say to Turner when she meets with him later.

“Listen,” Rio says as he runs a hand over his face and turns to look at her. “In my line of work, If you don't have the FBI on your back, you ain't making noise.”

“I don't want to make noise,” Beth insists. “They're gonna want to know what someone like me is doing with someone like you.”

He rolls his eyes at that. “Mama, just tell we known each other for years. Say we met at school if you really wanna.”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for Turner to realise that we weren’t speaking for years,” she points out. “What do I say then?”

“Say we reconnected.” He looks her other, that signature smirk of his falling into place. “Tell them I was hitting it.”

She can feel the beginnings of her brain short-circuiting as her stomach twists. “ _ What? _ ”

“Oh, sorry, sweetheart,” he says and she knows he’s anything but sorry, that he’s finding more than a little amusement from the whole situation. “Tell them we're making love.”

Beth just blinks at him. She can feel her mouth opening and closing and she  _ wills _ herself to speak but it’s like the words won’t form because it’s a completely absurd suggestion. Eventually, she begins to stutter, eyes blinking more rapidly as she looks around at anything and everything but him. “How do I even say that?”

He chuckles. “Say we ran back into each other and...  _ Reconnected _ . Just make me sound good though, yeah?”

She gives him a disbelieving look because never in the nearly _twenty-five_ _years_ since they met did she ever think they would even be talking about something like this. As she regards him carefully (and promptly ignores the way he laughs harder), she can’t deny that she’s thought about it - in fact, she had maybe thought about it a little too much sometimes - but sitting here, in her car, after all this time… It just puts her off-kilter.

Before she can say anything, Rio falls silent and shifts in his seat a little before he asks, “what  _ are _ you doing with someone like me?”

“Well, I…” Beth frowns. “I need the money.”

He waves her off. “You could’ve found another way. After all this time, why’d you leave your pearls?”

“Better the devil you know,” she mumbles but a second later the words hit her and she flushes. “I didn’t mean… I just… I figured that if I was going to do something drastic to get money for my family, I might as well do it with someone I know. It’s that or Dean’s suggestion of getting back together.”

Rio’s face scrunches up a little in disgust. “The devil, huh?”

Beth puts her head back against the headrest. “I don’t think that about you.”

“Nah?”

Her head rolls to the side to look at him. “It’d be easier if I did.”

It’s quick but she catches it, the way he swallows before he reaches for the door handle. “You got this, yeah?”

“Do I?” she asks, more to herself than anything.

“We got history, ma,” he points out. “Even if we don’t wanna talk about it. Could be our get outta jail free card.  _ You got this _ . Quit second-guessing.”

With that, he’s gone and Beth’s left sitting there. She doesn’t move, not even once he’s in his car and driven away. The sincerity of his words seem to root her to the spot. It’s not like it’s new, he’s always found it surprisingly easy to believe in her abilities but that was then.

Eventually, her phone buzzes with a new message. It’s her group thread with Annie and Ruby. She opens it up to two messages from the latter. The first saying:  _ can you guys come here? _ Followed by the second:  _ Sara’s all good.  _ Beth shoots off a response saying she’ll be there soon and she’ll pick Annie up on the way.

* * *

“That was a good idea,” Annie says, gesturing to the pink pastry box filled with money in Beth’s hands as they wind through the corridors of the hospital.

Beth looks down at it. “The money or the box?”

“Both,” Annie says and they laugh a little, something a little soft and unsure.

They both turn the corner to see Ruby a little further down the corridor, outside a room they both assume must be Sara’s. She leans into said room and says something that’s inaudible due to the distance before she’s turning and heading towards them, gesturing to a nearby seating area. They wait for her to reach them and sit down first before they settle down either side of her.

“How is she?” Annie asks.

“Still good,” Ruby says before her brow bunches together. “Well, it’s not  _ good _ but she’s stable and it could have been a lot worse. We tried to reassure her that we’re alright with the money so hopefully, she never tries to hoard her meds like that again.”

“You caught it in time,” Annie points out. “And look, Sara is like the least selfish kid ever. At least you know she did it with good intentions.”

“All the stuff you think you're keeping from them?” Ruby says, shaking her head a little. “You're not.”

And Beth gets it, she really does but- “Don’t go there.”

“I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm a bad mother,” Ruby says.

“Oh, she's going there,” Annie whispers.

“I could have paid more attention.”

Beth shakes her head because that is categorically untrue. You can’t watch them all the time and she doesn’t doubt that even with a little more focus on her, Sara would still have been able to hide it. She was always determined and too smart for her age.

“You do the best you can,” she tries to reassure before she picks up the pink box and holds it out.

Ruby sniffs. “Those better be doughnuts. Do not come at me with some wack-ass cheese Danish.” Beth doesn’t say anything, just holds the box still so Ruby can open it up ever so slightly. When she catches sight of what’s inside, she slowly closes it and begins to cry a little. “Those aren't doughnuts.”

“It's everything,” Beth tells her. “It's our whole cut.”

“We knew you'd need it for the hospital bill,” Annie adds.

“We don't want you to even think about it, okay?” Beth says, as she gently touches Ruby’s arm.

Both she and Annie put their heads on Ruby’s shoulders as she begins to cry more. Wiping at her eyes, she says, “Man, you messed up my damn face.”

“Oh,” Annie says slowly and Beth begins to smile. “It was already pretty messed up.”

“I hate you guys.”

“We know,” Beth tells her.

“So, have you already discussed the comment,” Ruby starts as they both lift their heads and sit back a little to look at her properly. “About the twigs and the-”

“Ah, yes,” Annie says. “Yes, we… We had a discussion about it.”

“Man, I missed it?” 

Annie hums in agreement. “I was the bigger man, I apologised.”

“Yeah,” Beth agrees slowly. “Sort of.”

“Well, I said it wasn't my finest moment.”

“You also said it could have been way worse.”

“Yeah,” Annie says like it’s obvious. “Because I wanted to say ‘raisin cave’ but I restrained myself.”

Ruby gapes. “What does that even mean?”

“Uh, I think I know,” Beth says, eyeing her sister because if it’s coming out of Annie’s mouth, it can’t be good. “And it is not an apology.”

Annie laughs. “What you want from me, blood?” She clicks her tongue a little. “Please.”

They all collapse into laughter. The kind that makes it hard to breathe and causes your stomach to hurt. Ruby even puts her head back a little and it’s so genuine that Beth can’t help but grin as she shakes her head a little. Eventually, they begin to calm down, a collective sigh escaping them as they settle a little more comfortably into their seats.

“Speaking of blood,” Annie says once they fall into silence. “I didn’t mean what I said. There was so much arguing and I was so focused on saying something hurtful to Beth and reeling from Brian that I didn’t think.”

Beth rolls her eyes a little. “And it’s not even a little true. You’re just as important to us, blood or not.”

“That stuff with Sara happened pretty quickly,” Ruby says. “That was scary enough. I don’t want to waste time being mad at y’all.”

Annie puts her head back down on Ruby’s shoulder and hugs her arm. “Good ‘cause you’re kind of stuck with us.”

“Yeah.” Beth nods in agreement. “It’s non-negotiable.”

“Hate you guys.”

“We hate you too,” Annie says happily.

Beth hums in agreement before shuffling a little closer. “So much.”

* * *

At some point, amongst their chats and actually looking in on Sara, Beth decided it would be best to go home so she could at least freshen up. It’s surprisingly nice to find Dean sitting at the dining table, to be able to chat about something so insignificant as food and the Rachael Ray Show. It also felt good to stand under the spray of her shower, the heat of the water and her conversation with Dean only confirming for her that their relationship is broken beyond repair. The relief of knowing in her heart that they’ll never get back together gives her enough calm to hold off on confronting him about his cancer for now. She tells herself the best time will be after the appointment. The more information she has, the more ammunition she has.

And she does plan on going back to the hospital after her shower, she  _ does _ , but Turner isn’t going to wait and so she finds herself sitting in his office. He offers her a drink when he first comes in to join her and well, she’s already too jittery.

“He’s my friend,” she tells him quickly. “ _ Was _ my friend.”

Turner blinks at her, leaning back in his seat. “Oh?”

She nods. “We met years ago. I was 16, he was 13.”

“How’d you meet?”

“It was just me, my sister, and our mother back then,” Beth explains. “I needed a break so I stopped by the park on my way home. I was lying on the picnic bench when he happened to pass by. He stopped to see if I was okay.”

“I can’t imagine you saw him much.”

“We didn’t really,” she agrees. “Sometimes we’d run into each other. There was a year where we went to school together though. I was a senior. I even tutored him at one point.”

Turner regards her carefully and she knows it won’t be hard to check those details. “And you stayed in touch after?”

“For a long time after,” she says. “We lost touch while I was pregnant with my eldest. So, it’s been a little over a decade since I saw him last.”

“Okay,” Turner says and for a second it feels like she might get away with but then he leans forward a little. “How did you get back in touch after all this time?”

Beth sighs. “It wasn’t planned. You see, my husband was having an affair with someone half his age and got us into debt. I was upset, I was angry, and so I went for a drink.”

“Why the secrecy around your husband?”

“Dean has only met Rio once,” she offers up. “Probably wouldn’t remember it actually.”

Turner nods. “So, he has no idea about your history?”

“None whatsoever and for now, I want to keep it that way.”

“Can I ask why?”

“When Rio left,” she begins, glancing down at her lap. “I wasn’t happy. We never had a proper goodbye. When I ran into him I was just glad to be able to think about something other than my husband and what he had done.”

Something in his eye tells Beth she’s got him. That sense of curiosity is still there but he seems almost sucked in by it now. It’s hard to tell though. In an instant, he blinks and it’s gone. “What happened, Mrs Boland?”

“I slept with him,” she tells him. “Rio, that is. We started reminiscing, I took him back to mine. I got scared about bringing up the past any more than we already had so I kissed him.”

“You had an affair?”

“Well, it was  _ one time _ and my husband and I weren’t together when it happened,” Beth clarifies and decided the best way to do this is to drive it home. “Anyway, Rio kissed me back right before he pulled my panties down. We ended up screwing right on the kitchen table, on the breakfast dishes.” She offers up a small smile. “The kids had pancakes. Blueberry.” She allows herself to let out an awkward laugh. “You see, I don’t regret it but I’m not sure I’m ready to face my history with Rio just yet.”

Turner seems to consider her words. “Do you know how Rio has made his money over the years?”

“Not a clue.” Beth shakes her head a little. It’s not like he can prove she knows and, well, back then she didn’t know much at all. She was never involved in the things Rio did so there would be nothing to tie her to it. She just hopes that if there are no ties from back then, Turner will consider that she won't have ties to Rio’s criminal activity now. “He never talked about it.”   
  
“What  _ did _ you talk about?”   
  
“Our families, school, books we’d read,  _ nonsense _ .” She smiles softly. “Sometimes we spoke about nothing at all.”

“So, you don’t plan to see him again?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “It’s been a decade, he’s probably not the Rio I used to know. I’m definitely in no rush though.”

After a moment, Turner thanks her for coming in. Beth wastes no time in gathering her coat and her bag before standing. She’s almost at the door, just about to leave when he speaks.

“Mrs. Boland?” She turns to him. “I know you’ve got history and he was your friend at one point but times change. Be careful who you bring into your home.”   
  
Beth smiles, offers up a small shrug. “I'm tougher than I look.”

* * *

When Beth finally gets home, the place is silent. Dean and the kids are already tucked away in bed. She heads straight to her bedroom, not even pausing as she goes to dig out her memory box. This time, she tips it out onto her bed. Talking to Turner had struck her harder than she thought it would. Sure, she hadn’t actually slept with Rio but she had been trying to avoid their history and well, fear was actually a big motivator in that.

It’s not like her talk with Turner was entirely bad. She really could talk to Rio about nothing at all and find comfort in that. Just like she could with Annie or Ruby. There was something so effortless about her relationship with Rio back then and God, she misses that. She misses  _ him _ . It was as if - now that he’s back - her memories of him were fading. Talking to Turner had reminded her of those times while also reminding her that things had changed.

She shuffles through the contents of the memory box, now all splayed out on her bed, until her fingers finally close on the polaroids. 

_ “Nice board.” _

_ Rio’s stood by her desk. A couple of weeks prior she had taken to decorating the space by pinning things to her bulletin board. Random pieces of art she found in magazines, cards she had been given over the years, and stickers she had no other use for. Her most recent addition were pictures including a combination of herself with Annie, Ruby, and Dean. _

_ “Annie and Ruby got me a polaroid camera as one of my wedding gifts,” Beth explained. “I used it a little at the time which is where most of those photos are from.” _

_ He looked at her, amused. “A polaroid camera?” _

_ “I like arts and crafts,” she reminded. “They figured I’d make a lot of use out of a camera like that.” _

_ “They weren’t wrong,” he agreed, eyes scanning over the board again, this time lingering more on the photos. _

_ “In fact...” Beth moved around to grab her camera off of the shelf by her desk. “There’s one person I haven’t taken a photo with.” _

_ Rio’s brow furrowed. “Ain’t like you’re gonna put it up.” _

_ “I still want one.” He looked nervously at the camera and Beth grinned. “You don’t like getting your photo taken, do you?” _

_ He puffed out his cheeks, looking away as he slowly let the air out. “It’s not that I don’t like it.” _

_ “Please.” She pouted a little as she captured his attention again. “Just a couple?” _

_ Rio narrowed his eyes at her and Beth knew in an instant she had won. Still, she let him come to that conclusion on his own. Eventually, he groaned. “Fine. A couple. No more.” _

_ “I promise.” _

_ And the first one was, well, awkward. In all of her excitement to actually get a photo of the two of them, Beth hadn’t really considered what that photo might look like. She almost cropped him out completely and so, they tossed that one away and Rio took hold of the camera. _

_ It worked better then, especially with him being taller and having a much steadier hand. He stood behind her slightly, his arm slung around her shoulder with her leant back against him. He held the camera out in front of them and snapped the photo. It had a slight downward angle on it and it’s just enough that despite how close they are to the camera, neither of them are cut out. The second photo happened when Rio turned her so they were both facing her mirror. He stood behind her properly this time. He rested his chin on her shoulder and reached around her, holding the camera in front of her with both hands. He snapped the photo. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ The third one was different. After the first two, Rio had settled onto her bed with the camera beside him. Beth sat on his other side, both of them leaning against the headboard. There was silence - comfortable silence - when Rio shuffled down enough so he could lean into her and she could put an arm around his shoulder. It was too much then not to do it. _

_ She grasped the camera. “One more?” _

_ He grumbled half-heartedly and she grinned as she moved to settled by his side again and put her arm around him. She held the camera up and Rio leant his head back, resting it against her shoulder so he could see the camera. This photo was a mess but nowhere near as bad as the first one they tried. It was an awkward angle and they were both cropped slightly, too big for the frame, but it worked. Small smiles like the other photos and simple. Staged but not staged at the same time. _

_ “A’ight,” he said, studying all the photos side by side once Beth dragged herself out of bed to find a place to keep them. “They ain’t bad.” _

_ “Have you ever taken a bad photo in your life?” _

_ “Have you?” he countered. _

_ Beth could feel herself blush because yes, she had. Old school photos would attest to that but he would never let it drop if she mentioned them so she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she let out a triumphant noise as she found a box in the back of her closet that was small enough to hide wherever she liked. _

_ “Well, I’m going to take good care of those,” she told him. _

_ “Might be worth a fortune one day.” _

_ She scoffed. “You’re not that photogenic.” _

_ He grinned. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.” _

For the most part, Beth had taken care of them. She did everything she could to make sure they wouldn’t get ruined over the years and after Rio left, it was easy to just store them away. They didn’t take that many photos but she had managed to get some over the years that followed. A couple from when she was pregnant with Kenny (in the first he had been trying to cheer her up after a particularly bad day of morning sickness and the other was a trip to the park the first Saturday she had without morning sickness), another photo had been about a year or so before she got pregnant and Rio had told her he would give her anything she asked for so she asked for a photo of them together, and the remaining photo was from when Rio turned 21 where she’s kissing his cheek after making him wear a happy birthday hat. He looks grumpy in the photo but she can see he’s about to break into a smile.

At some point - she’s not entirely sure when - Beth lost a couple. That third photo they took while lying on her bed and the one he took of them at the park while she was pregnant. It had bothered her at first that they were gone but with him disappearing on her, it didn’t seem important.   
  
Staring down at the photos she has left, they’re comforting. Beth studies them carefully, taking in every tiny bit of detail, trying to recommit him to memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have noticed in the last chapter that I shifted some canon things around and re-ordered them. So, I included Ruby being told she’s not a blood relation into the fight in the dumpster between Annie and Beth that took place in 1x05 (whereas in the show, Ruby’s told that in 1x07). And in this chapter, I changed (ever so slightly) when certain things happened with the Hills in terms of Sara ending up in the hospital.
> 
> This will happen in this fic to make it easier for my added content and the flashbacks especially the further into season one we go, in order for canon to fit/make sense with the changes made due to Beth and Rio’s history. I just thought I’d mention this in case anyone notices the order is a little off.


	12. Skills and Abilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Beth circles through lies and motives while discovering pieces as to why Rio left all those years ago.
> 
>  **Past:** Rio believes in Beth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

It’s like walking on autopilot as Beth leaves the doctor’s office. He has cancer. She can’t get it out of her head, a part of her was really beginning to believe that Dean was lying. It’s like the guilt rises up in her at the idea that she thought he would be so cruel. And God, she hates herself for even asking how much it’s going to cost but they’ve already got so much debt and well, the more money she needs, the longer she’s going to have to work with Rio.

She just needs to not think about it for a bit, not think about the potential of extending her employment, but instead focus on getting through the ever-growing mess that is her life. That’s how she finds herself at Annie’s place, dishing out their money for the month.

“Here’s your cut,” Beth says, passing Ruby her’s before she sits down on the couch beside Annie.

“This is nothing.”

“It’s more than we had last month.”

“Sara’s on home dialysis now,” Ruby says, looking down at the money. “Plus the new medicine. This is barely gonna make a dent.”

“Ugh! You suck!” Annie scoffs as she closes her laptop. “My custody lawyer billed me for messaging her questions on Facebook.”

“Why would you think you wouldn't get billed for that?” Ruby asks.

“Because we're friends on Facebook,” Annie says slowly.

“I've never worked so hard for so little, and I worked a service job,” Ruby says to bring the conversation back as Annie sighs. “I say we get out.”

“Are you serious?” Beth asks because sure, the idea of it doesn’t sound half bad, but she can’t back out now and the whole thing would just be so much better with Ruby by her side.

“We're risking everything including our lives,” Ruby points out. “We barely see our families - and for what?”

“For the money,” Beth says as Annie waves her stack in the air.

“It'd be one thing if we were making mad bank.” She holds up her own stack. “But this? This isn't mad bank, you guys. I say we cut our losses now before we get caught. Or shot.”

“I mean, I do need the money,” Annie says as Beth’s eyes drift over to the bag on the kitchen counter. “But Ruby’s not wrong. We’ve  _ seen _ the bloodier side of this job.”

After that, Beth zones out a little. She gets it, she  _ does _ , but it’s still money at the end of the day and she needs some kind of income. Even with Boland Motors doing slightly better, she can’t just give this up yet, not without fighting. She won’t go back to being in the dark, to relying on Dean’s work because that sure as hell didn’t work out.

_ Beth got to the diner first - pausing only to ask for some coffee - before she headed straight over to the table in the corner. She sat down, hand wrapping around her cup as soon as it was placed down in front of her and, after a moment, her fingers instinctively tapped against it. _

_ It wasn’t long before Rio showed up, sliding in across from her. Giving a polite, “nothing for me, thanks”, when the lady who served Beth asked if he wanted anything. _

_ “It’s Annie,” she began when he didn’t ask.  _

_ “What about her?” _

_ “I was called into the school,” Beth explained. “Apparently she vandalised school property and punched some guy in the face.” _

_ Rio let out an amused breath. “For real?” _

_ She gives him a disbelieving look. “She didn’t do it!” _

_ “Come on, ma, she wouldn’t be the first teenager to lash out.” _

_ “She’s barely thirteen,” Beth pointed out. “And besides, it  _ might _ be possible that she punched some guy in the face, especially if he did something, but she wouldn’t vandalise the school. At the very least, it’s too much effort.” _

_ He laughed a little at that. “A’ight, so what you gonna do about it?” _

_ “I don’t know. They’re talking about the best course of action, whether she should stay at school, and not to mention the cost for damages.” Beth groaned, sinking in her seat a little. “It’s going to be so much money.” Rio scoffed and her eyes snapped up to his. “What?” _

_ “Didn’t think you was the quitting type.” _

_ “I’m… I’m  _ not _.” _

_ “Then you gotta get your ass over to that school every day until they figure out who really did it.” He takes her coffee from her and drinks some. “And you ain’t paying any money until they do.” _

_ “They aren’t listening.” _

_ “Then make them,” Rio insisted. “You know as well as I do that if you want something, you gotta take it, yeah? No one’s gonna just give you shit, you gotta fight for it.” _

_ “Go big or go home,” she mumbled. _

_ He looked amused and his smile slowly turned into a grin as he swiped her coffee to take a drink of it. “Yeah, mama. Go big or go home.” _

The conversation about getting out of their current arrangement with Rio remains top priority but Beth can’t bring herself to actually get involved with it. Instead, she just nods appropriately and lets Annie and Ruby discuss the hypotheticals of how they might go about getting out. Really, she doesn’t know  _ what _ she’s going to do or say when the moment actually arrives. It doesn’t help that the sight of the park they pull up at to do the drop hits her square in the chest. She had been so focused on Ruby suggesting they get out and Dean’s appointment that it never clicked in her mind where it was they were actually going.

As they wander closer, her eyes go to one of the picnic benches, memories of sitting at (and on) it hitting her all at once. She can still remember what it was like to lay back on it. Hearing his voice for the first time. How young he had been. She quickly moves to sit down before she can overthink it and places the bag of money on her lap. Ruby sits beside her while Annie drifts over to the swings.

Beth spends her time focusing on not freaking out over the memories that fill the space they’re in and the burning question of whether or not it was deliberate on Rio’s part to pick this location. Eventually, the slow creaking sound of Annie’s swing is all that fills Beth’s mind and it could be the perfect distraction but it’s just  _ too much _ .

“Please stop that,” she says.

“Guys, this place is so familiar,” Annie starts, still swinging. “I'm having, like, deja vu.”

And Beth doesn’t want to think about that, what this place could mean to either of them, and the creaking is only getting worse and- “Oh, please, stop.”

“Okay,” Annie says a little defensively as she hops off the swing with a sigh.

“Just chill,” Ruby says. “It's gonna be fine.”

Annie scoffs as she sits down on Beth’s other side. “How do you figure, Ruby?”

“We just tell them the job wasn't for us and that we're moving on.”

And is that it? Beth can safely say that it isn’t for her. There’s a whole mess of reasons for wanting out but it just doesn’t sit right with her to do it now.  _ “Didn’t think you was the quitting type.” _ It’s just as clear as it was back then. The way he had scoffed right before it. And she wasn’t, she really wasn’t, so why was she quitting right now?

“Right, yeah,” Annie says. “I'm sure he'll be totally cool with that.”

“We didn't sign a contract,” Ruby points out.

“Dude, we've been laundering fake money for a street gang.”

“So?”

It’s so casual the way Ruby says it. Like there’s no obvious issue with just cutting ties after they had to convince Rio to give their idea a shot. Beth’s not entirely convinced that he stopped all of his means of washing his fake cash because he’s always been a little cautious, the good kind that makes sure he’s prepared but still, he must have at least disrupted things in order to really test their idea out and well, they really haven’t lasted that long. Not in the grand scheme of things.

“So it's not a college internship,” Annie remarks. “We can't be like, "Thanks, bye, I learned so much." There is no getting out.”

“Out of what?”

His voice cuts through so suddenly that Beth can’t help but look right at him, body tensing as he stops close by and tucks his hands into his pockets. For a moment, she expects him to make a comment about their meeting place and she promptly stands, hand wrapped tightly around the strap of the bag. He looks past her at Annie, smiles a little like he’s amused, but his attention is drawn away by Ruby.

“We've, um, we've been thinking...” She clears her throat. “Just about, you know, your whole operation and our small role in it. And we've learned so much.”

Beth knows she has to cut in. She needs to take hold of the conversation if she’s going to solve the issues that Ruby and Annie are having with their current arrangement while still maintaining the fact they actually have an arrangement to change. And - not that she’s willing to admit it out loud to anyone - she hates the idea of Rio looking at her and seeing her as a quitter.

“But it's not working for us,” Beth says as she hands the bag over to Rio.

“How so?” he asks as he takes the bag and hands it over to one of his boys.

“We need more,” she says quickly because isn’t that their biggest problem? Not enough money to really cover the risks they’re taking. There’s already a couple of ideas forming in her head of how they’ll manage the extra amount.

Still, Ruby doesn’t seem to agree as she stands abruptly and whispers a very strained. “ _ What _ ?”

“We've been clearing about, what? A 100 grand every few weeks for you?” Beth says to Rio, promptly ignoring everyone else. She only had to convince him right now, everything else can happen later. And he just looks amused, like he wasn’t sure what he expected of her but this isn’t it and she can feel it in her gut that he’s not really taking her seriously. “We're gonna need five times that amount to turn a profit and make it worth our time.”

He looks even more amused then. “You wanna clean 500 G’s?”

“We can do it.”

“Can we?” Annie asks softly, voice shaking.

“You don't get more time,” he points out.

“It's not a problem,” Beth says without hesitation.

“Isn’t it?” Annie asks, voice breaking this time.

Beth doesn’t answer, pushes everything out except for him. She concentrates on his face, the way his features slacken a little. Mouth parted slightly and his eyes on her in a way that makes her think that maybe, no matter how absurd and unlikely it might be, that he’s remembering their conversation from way back when.

“Go big or go home, right?”

She sees in then. The way his eyes shift a little, the way he rocks his jaw. Even if he hadn’t before, he’s remembering now. The recognition is all too apparent before he can hide it. “Brought that mama van with you?”

All she can do is nod and it’s impossible to stop herself from looking a little pleased because  _ it worked _ and even though he’s pulled the mask over that recognition, he’s still looking at her like he  _ sees her _ and for once, since she walked into her house to find him waiting in her kitchen, it feels good.

“Load 'em up.”

After he gives the instruction to his boys, he begins to walk away and Beth can’t help it, she follows him. Doesn’t even look back at Annie or Ruby because she knows they’re going to be pissed. He only stops when they’re some distance away and there’s a good chance that no one will overhear them.

“Did you pick this place deliberately?” she asks before he can speak.

Rio hums a little which isn’t exactly a confirmation but he doesn’t seem surprised as his eyes dart around the park, motioning back towards the picnic benches. “Wasn’t expecting that.”

“Should have.”

He nods a little before his gaze drifts back to her. “You sure about it?”

“I can do it.”

It’s when he smiles, something soft, that she begins to realised how screwed she might be. “Yeah, I don’t doubt it.”

Beth can’t help it then. The urge that builds up inside of her. It feels like she’s going to burst. “You’ve been pretty vague about it but… Why did you leave? Can’t you tell me  _ something _ ?”

“It matter anymore?”

_ Yes _ , she thinks to herself. “Just humour me.”

At that, he looks at her, long and hard, like he’s trying to figure out whether it’s a good idea to say anything all. He huffs out a breath. “Remember that time at the bar?” She frowns at him and he shifts a little on the spot. “You was dancing and I marched you out of there? You was all pissed at me for it and I told you I had a meeting.”

And, yes, she does remember that night. Remembers thinking about it not too long ago either. “You drove me home.” 

“That’s when it started.”

Beth blinks, can’t help the hurt that flashes across her face. That night had been a few months before he left. “You knew back then that you were going to leave?”

And she hates the way it comes out, how hurt she sounds, wishes she could take it back, but he’s already stepping towards her. He crowds her space until they’re practically chest to chest. “Nah. I realised that later but the night at the bar was what started it all off.”

“Just tell me,” Beth pleads. She is screwed, completely and utterly, but for the first time in years, she’s so close to understanding. “Everything, all the details.”

“It’s done,” he reminds her. “Yeah? It ain’t gonna change anything and you got five times your usual amount to wash. Gotta be thinking about that now.”

Without warning, he steps back. He tilts his head in a way that she supposes is meant to be a goodbye and walks away from her. She doesn’t leave until he’s out of sight. Unable to fully process the information he’s given her and hating herself for even opening that can of worms because now she just wants to know more.

* * *

Even so, Beth does what he said, concentrates on cleaning his money and well, it’s not awful. Getting the secret shoppers is a damn sight easier than she thought it would be. Some empty promises and inspiring words and all of the women (and Tyler) were more than eager to sign up. Even the blip in their plans as Tyler loses 20 grand worth of merchandise doesn’t really phase her because she’s got this.  _ They’ve _ got it.

It’s surprisingly fun. Putting on a wig and hatching a plan to cheat the system yet again and get back the clean money they’d lost. It’s a thrill even. Not that she’d admit that out loud. But it’s an easy fix, a quick fix, a  _ good  _ fix. Sure, there’s a little risk but that only makes it more appealing and Beth’s not entirely sure how to feel about that but at least she didn’t have to rob another grocery store with toy guns.

Still, despite the success of the day, she really shouldn’t be too surprised that things would take a drastic turn in the other direction. It’s not the twist of events she expects as she sits at the dining table, numbly listening to the things Dean is saying to her. The way he just assumes that she’s been taken advantage of and sure, she had used the innocent and naive assumptions to get herself out of trouble and as a tool to blend in in order to do Rio’s work, but there was something different about it coming out of Dean’s mouth, some condescending.

At least Dean lied to Turner. She tries to tell herself that it’s worth it just for that. The car had been their biggest issue and now it wasn’t. Or, at least it was less of one. She doesn’t really blame Dean either. Getting a conventional job definitely would have been a lot easier and a lot less painful but this was faster and it was… It was  _ Rio _ . Of course, Dean didn’t know that. Still thinks of him as ‘bounce house guy’.

Still, she just nods. “That’s exactly what happened,” she tells him when he’s done talking about how people like Rio rope people like her in. It seems easier that way, to just agree. 

“I'm sorry I yelled at you. But look, everything's gonna be fine.”

Again, she nods. “Okay.”

“I'm gonna take care of this. Nothing bad is going to happen to us. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says, a little louder this time.

“Just stay away from that guy.”

And sure, if it were only that easy. It makes her stomach twist, how Dean sees the whole situation one way, how he sees  _ her _ one way. Still, she nods, lets out another “okay” and it just... It seems like the right time to just approach it at least. Dean gets up from the table then and she speaks quickly to stop him from leaving just yet. “Dean? Can I ask you something?”

He looks down at her. “Sure, anything.”

“I’ve been so wrapped up in this stuff,” she says quietly. “Neglected so many other things that I forgot to ask you before.”

“Bethie, what is it?”

“There’s this mom, she’s got a son about Kenny’s age,” Beth begins. “I used to go to the park with her when he was still small. Well-” She clears her throat. “-she was talking about Kenny’s baby blanket because her sister is pregnant and she wanted to get one as a gift.”

It’s subtle, the way Dean’s face slowly forms into recognition and then quickly covers up. “Oh?”

“Yeah and well, I know your mom got it for him, so I was wondering where she bought it? I know it’s a long shot after all this time but I did say I would check.”

“Oh.” He scratches a little at the back of his neck and glances up at the ceiling. “I’m pretty sure she made it actually. She hasn’t done anything like that in a while though so I’m not sure she’ll be able to make another one.”

Beth smiles at him, shaking her head. “That’s okay. I just didn’t want to see the poor woman again without an answer. I could maybe offer to make her one instead or tell her where we’ve shopped for them in the past.”

“Yeah.” Dean reaches out and squeezes her shoulder. “That sounds like a good idea.”

He walks away then and it’s only once she can no longer hear him that she lets out a breath because she knows he’s lying. Before Kenny was even born she had been making scarves for Annie and Ruby (money was too tight to actually buy something for Christmas) and Judith had remarked that she had never been able to get the hang of knitting. In all the years since then, she had never seen her mother-in-law make a proper attempt. Back when she believed the blanket was from her, Beth just assumed it was a custom order.

Lying.

He’d been doing it for so long.

Lied to her and doubted her. A cycle that had been going on forever seemingly enough and it makes her want to scream but she doesn’t. She buries her face in her hands instead because right now, she needs Dean on side and believing that she’s innocent in all of this. There’s too much to worry about otherwise.

_ “What are you doing?” _

_ “Oh!” Beth turned suddenly at the sound of Dean’s voice, smiling a little. “I’m just sorting some things out.” _

_ He stepped closer then, peering over her shoulder at all the papers lying across the table and frowned. He pushed some aside to get a better look at all of them. “Bethie, you don’t have to do this.” _

_ “I know,” she said happily. “But your mom said she did this kind of stuff for your dad sometimes. Made sure everything was one hundred percent so you wouldn’t have to worry.” _

_ “Yeah but… Do you know what you’re doing?” _

_ Beth looked at him and at least he had the decency to look a little awkward. “It’s only some paperwork. I’ve been to the dealership enough times. And your mom showed us that one time, remember?” _

_ “But that was a long time ago,” Dean pointed out. “And I’m running things now. I can’t afford to worry that it might not be done right.” _

_ “That’s why I’m checking it.” _

_ “I know, I know,” he said quickly. “And I love you, thank you, but there are actually people here at the dealership to do that.” _

_ She blinked at him before looking down at the papers. It had been going on since they got married but more so since they had been talking about kids… She wanted to do something, wanted to be useful. Ever since Dean took over Boland Motors from his father, she figured that helping out there would be her in. It wasn’t like they were going to have kids there and then, she could at least make the most of her time and her skill. _

Because she did have skills.

Even back then Beth didn’t know much about cars but she was always a quick learner. A refresher on how things ran at Boland Motors was enough for her to take some paperwork into another room at the dealership and get to work. Eric, the guy who had been handling that kind of thing back then, had been more than happy to let her get on with it because she was the boss’ wife and well, she had actually  _ shown _ Eric that she could do it.

Dean, on the other hand, hadn’t even bothered to give her a chance. And sure it had hurt back then but she had chalked it up to nerves. A discussion with Ruby about it after the fact was almost enough to push it from her mind entirely and then, the thing that did stop her from overthinking Dean’s doubts and letting it crowd her own opinion of herself, had been Rio.

* * *

When it wasn’t Ruby (or even Annie) that soothed her back then, it was Rio. He knew what to say and when to say it. He had this ability to believe in her just as much as he believed in himself which was…  _ A lot _ . On anyone else she might have scoffed, might have worried about suffocating from the lack of space in the room thanks to their big ego, but with Rio it was different. He was never arrogant about it.

And for the second time, the park -  _ their _ park - hits something deep inside of her. He’s not the least bit amused at having to answer her question. He goes on about nickel bags or dime bags or  _ something _ but she’s not really listening. She nods at all the right places but she’s more intent on watching him because even beneath the slight irritation, she can see it. The way his eyes watch  _ her  _ carefully, still trying to adjust to this sudden change of her actually being involved in his business as opposed to sitting on the sidelines.

“It's all there,” Rio says when she tells Ruby to count their cut. He smiles a little then, licks at his lips. “Trust me. 60 G’s.” There’s barely a beat. “We'll up your drop next time? Say 750?”

“Why?”

He pouts a little, shrugs like it’s obvious. “'Cause you delivered.”

And Beth can’t help the way she practically grins as he walks away.

_ Rio showed up after Beth. She got to the park first and sat at the picnic bench. Her head was down on the table when he approached, sitting beside her, right on the table part like he did more often than not. _

_ “Thought you was gonna be busy today?” _

_ Beth lifted her head to look at him. “Thought I was.” He raised a brow at her and she huffed out a breath. “I was going to help Dean at work. With the paperwork and stuff so he could be sure it was getting done.” _

_ “And?” _

_ “He said he had someone to do that.” _

_ “So, he didn’t want you helping?” _

_ “No.” _

_ “Come on, ma, you gotta spit it out.” _

_ “I already spoke to Ruby about this,” she admitted. “And, it’s really not that big of a deal but I could do it, you know? The work really wasn’t that difficult and I was doing just fine until he realised what I was up to.” _

_ “Should’ve told him that,” Rio pointed out. _

_ “Yeah, but he has been working there for a long time. He knows what he’s doing better than I do.” He shook his head at her and she found herself slowly mimicking his actions. “Why are you shaking your head at me?” _

_ “You pick up shit way too quickly,” he said. “Every time I’ve heard someone say you can’t do something, you end up doing it anyway and proving them wrong.” _

_ Beth rolled her eyes. “This is different.” _

_ “Don’t see how it is.” _

_ “How do you…” She sighed. “How do you do that? Be so sure all the time?” _

_ “‘Cause I know you’ve got it.” _

_ She straightened up a little. “Got what?” _

_ He slipped off the table to sit down on the bench beside her, his shoulder pressed up against hers. “Whatever you want.” _

She doesn’t sit back down on the swing, instead, she barely utters a “wait here a sec” to Annie and Ruby before she’s hurrying off to try and catch him. She calls out to him and he pauses by his car at the sound of his name and turns to lean against the hood of it.

He doesn’t say anything nor does he move. Not even when she’s stood right in front of him, so close she’s almost between his legs.

“You never doubted me before,” she points out.

Rio smiles then, something small. “Didn’t this time neither.” When she blinks at him, he pushes off his car, forcing her to take a step back, but a moment later, he’s crowding her space again like he had done during the last drop. “Was just trying to figure you out.”

“I’m still the same.”

He hums a little. “I wasn’t planning on leaving that night.”

Beth stares at him for a moment, tries to swallow around the lump in her throat. “What do you mean?”

“We was eating those fucking chocolate-covered pickles.” Rio rolls his eyes but he’s smiling and she can’t help but smile too. “That’s when I realised I was gonna leave.”

The tears happen suddenly, out of nowhere, and she can’t catch them fast enough because it hurts. She remembers laughing, the way he said he loved her. 

( _ “You know I’ve got love for you, yeah?” _

_ “Not as much as I’ve got for you.” _ )

She remembers it clear as day. The way he whispered it to her and how her heart had fluttered. It was so different from anything else and now… Now she knows he left because of that moment. That it wasn’t just a goodbye, it was the reason.

And she forgets there are tears until his hand is cupping her face and his thumb is swiping at her cheek. “I didn’t want to.”

Her eyes slip shut. “Please don’t tell me it was work. Don’t tell me you chose… You chose...” She gestures vaguely behind her, back towards the swings and the picnic benches, to where Ruby is currently clutching a bag of money. “ _ That _ over staying in my life?”

He doesn’t answer her. The next minute his hand is gone and Beth doesn’t open her eyes. Not even when she hears the opening and closing of his car door. She even keeps them shut as his car comes to life. All she does is take a few steps back.

When Beth does finally open them, Rio’s already reversed out of the space he’d parked in and is driving away.

* * *

Beth doesn’t let it get her down though. It was bound to happen, right? Rio picking his work over her. It couldn’t stay separate for too long and she had been so out of the loop with what he did for so long that it made sense that he wouldn’t continue to try and live both lives. 

So, she celebrates instead and goes out with Annie and Ruby. She tells them about her six-month plan to earn as much as they can and then get out because now it’s only about the money. It’s about making sure she can get enough to keep her head above water and ignoring the voice in her head that’s telling her Rio is one of the biggest reasons she’s continuing to commit any kind of crime.

As she drinks, she even tells Annie and Ruby about the blanket. Tells them she knows Dean is lying and that maybe,  _ maybe _ , he’s lying about more.

( _ “Confront him,”  _ Ruby had said to which Annie had added, “ _ don’t let him worm his way out of it.”) _ __  
__  
So she did. It was actually easy once she got home and Dean had told her about changing the locks and making poor Fred close the dealership every night when he should be at home with his twins. It felt good to dump all that cash on Dean, to not sit and just take his doubt in her. Sure, it would be easy, helpful even, to have him think that she could do no wrong but she was a far cry away from the naive little lamb he thought she was.

Once she’s said her piece, Beth walks away and heads right for her bedroom. She can hear the thuds as the stacks of money drop to the floor. By the time she gets in and kicks her shoes off, Dean is in the doorway, watching her with his mouth wide open.

“Where is all that money from?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Beth says. “All that matters is that I know what I’m doing and I’m getting things sorted out.”

“Bethie, that was a lot-”

“When did you actually find out you have cancer?”

It’s not the topic she was planning on approaching tonight but it’s playing in the back of her mind. She had been avoiding it actually. Deep down she knew that if he had, in fact, lied about the baby blanket and then proceeded recently to cheat on her and get them into debt, then perhaps he was capable of lying about his health.

Dean blinks at her, a little taken back. “I suspected right before you kicked me out.”

“Right, right.” She grabs some sleepwear and disappears into the ensuite to change but leaves the door cracked open a little so they can still talk. “How come you never told me when I kicked you out?”

“I wanted to be sure. I didn’t want you to think that I was just saying it so you would let me stay.”

“And those treatments the doctor spoke about… Are you going to do them?”

There’s a pause and Beth listens out. “We, uh, we hadn’t decided on anything yet. I said I wanted to think about it.”

“Oh, well, the radiation and chemo and that is going to make you sick, right?” Beth tries to sound as concerned as possible as she, now dressed to sleep, moves over to the sink and begins to remove her make-up.

“Probably.”

“Well, if you do that kind of treatment, we’ll need to tell the kids.”

“I wanted to leave it for now,” he says hurriedly. “Don’t want to worry them.”

“But won’t they worry if they see you throwing up?” Beth asks. “And the other options involved surgery so they’re going to want to know why you’re in the hospital.”

She switches to putting on her moisturiser before she gathers up her clothes and steps out of the en-suite. While Dean has wandered into the room, he’s still hovering by the door. He shifts a little on the spot and she can see the way the cogs are moving inside his head, trying to figure out what to say next. She doesn’t say anything, just puts her things away.

“Well, then, I’ll do chemo or whatever,” he decides. “We can pass me throwing up as just a bug for a while and when we know it’s working, we can tell them.”

“We can’t lie to them.” If the cancer is real, she can’t keep it from them, not with something as serious as this.

“I don’t want to worry them," he repeats.

Beth lets out a slow breath, sitting down on the bed. “I hope that whatever treatment you get works but realistically, if it doesn’t, they’re going to be distraught if something happens to you and they never knew it was a possibility.”

“They’re too young.”

“Kenny isn’t.” She runs a hand over her face. “Aren’t you scared?”

“Terrified.”

And he says it with such conviction that Beth’s not entirely sure what to believe. Deep down she can feel that he’s not being entirely truthful. His avoidance to talk to the kids isn’t about protecting them. If roles were reversed, he would be demanding that she tell them the truth. It’s tempting, to call him out, to call his bluff, but it’s too much of a risk. He did have a doctor confirm the diagnosis and so she knows that if she brings up her suspicions, Dean will talk his way out of it, and then double down and cover his tracks. She’s got his attention with the money, he knows he’s underestimated her and, if she finds out that he has been lying to her about his health, Beth knows she’ll need to kick him out for good.


	13. A Problem Shared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Present:** Beth has to deal with a few problems
> 
>  **Past:** Beth and Rio talk about family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Quick heads up:** I use she/her pronouns and the name 'Sadie' because I'm following season one and, therefore, his coming out and name change haven't happened yet. :)
> 
> Seen as the flashbacks won't be shown in chronological order, [I made a google docs to keep it straight in my own head](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IcooHtmctK23_r-IXFywGXuG35Xbsp50-UWZf3fZhRo/edit?usp=sharing) in case any of you are interested in the chronological order (it also includes what Beth and Rio's ages are during the flashbacks!)

It did go well for a bit. Deep in her gut, Beth is still convinced that Dean isn’t being entirely truthful and while there’s no proof behind it, she feels at least a little free. She’s got her own thing now, something that she’s good at that isn’t taking care of the house or the kids, even if it is washing fake cash. It felt good to hand Dean a stack of it and make him leave the house for a bit with the kids while she got on with her work, shutting him out like he had done with her in the past. It also felt good to find success in the secret shopper idea and to be able to spend money in ways that she never would have done before. Everything was great.

Until it wasn’t.

Beth disappears to get the necklace from her room. It can’t be more than a couple of minutes as she carefully takes it out of the box and puts it on. “I want you guys to be honest,” she calls out to Annie and Ruby as she adjusts the necklace and takes a look at it in the mirror. “Kind of love it, but maybe it's over the top.”

She’s met with silence though and as she steps back out, they’re no longer on the couch. For a moment, she wonders if maybe they went to get more snacks but as her eyes go to the kitchen, a voice sounds from behind her.

“Not over the top at all.”

She jumps a little at Rio’s words and turns towards the living room. He’s by the end of the couch while Annie and Ruby are in front of the fireplace with his boys pointing guns at their heads. She looks between them all, trying to decipher what’s going on.

Rio chuckles as he wanders closer, golden gun in hand. “What is that? Is that… Is that emerald cut?”

His hand grabs at the back of her neck, drawing her in closer as he uses his gun to gently touch the necklace. She can feel his fingers digging into her skin as his eyes stay locked on the jewellery.

“Please put down the gun.”

“How much of my money did that set you back?”

“This isn't your money.”

Now, he looks at her again. “Oh, see, but it is.”

“What are you doing? I thought we were past this.” Because it had seemed like that. Past the awkwardness of having known each other before, past the part where he needs to put a gun to her head to get his way. 

“Me too,” he agrees. “But you bitches just keep stealing from me.”

Beth looks over towards Annie and Ruby then back at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rio rocks his jaw a little, squeezing the back of her neck before he pulls his gun away and steps back. He motions towards the living. “Over there.”

She stumbles a little but does as he says. His boys move out of the way so she can slip in beside Annie. When Rio comes to stand in front of them, his boys position themselves on either side of him and raise their guns again. 

“You think you can slip in fake cash with the real and I ain't gonna notice?”

“No, it's not possible,” Beth says because it _isn’t_. “We have a system.”

“Ah, me too,” he says, completely unimpressed.

“No,” she says, in case he doesn’t understand. “We know what is real and we know what is fake.”

It’s that same unimpressed tone again, only he’s a little angrier now too. “Oh, me too. And you tried to rip me off a hundred G’s?” 

She, Annie, and Ruby are a fluster of insisting that they would never do something like that when it slips out that it could be one of the women. Ruby keeps talking then, explaining that perhaps someone didn’t go shopping and Beth can see it. The way Rio _sounds_ calmer but she knows this doesn’t make things any better.

“What women?”

“We couldn't wash the cash fast enough,” Beth explains. “So we had to outsource.”

“You shared my business with other people?”

She can see it in his eyes. He’s listening to Annie and Ruby but he’s watching her. All those years, they rarely spoke about the work he did. And now here she is, seemingly having no problem sharing it with other people. From the way he pulls his lower lip in between his teeth and his eyes dart down over her, she knows it doesn’t matter _what_ the women know, just the fact they’re involved in the first place is an issue.

“Which one of your lady friends screwed me?”

Beth looks frantically at Annie and Ruby. “How could we know?”

“I'm gonna need a name.”

“Why?”

She already knows.

“To handle it.”

And Beth can’t let it happen, can she? It doesn't matter if she’s seen him bloodied and bruised in the past, knows he can get his hands dirty. So what if she’s seen him with a gun and knows he’s very capable of using it. She can’t just let him kill somebody when it could be… When it could be avoided. “Listen, there could be any one of 30 people who-”

“And you're gonna give me a name,” he cuts in and there’s no room for arguments. “Or I'm just gonna pick one at the next PTA mixer.”

Rio walks away, just like always, and Beth can feel the hammering in her chest. She _knows_ a lot of the women they’ve roped into this personally and the ones she doesn’t, well, that doesn’t matter. It would be all her fault because they only thought they were earning a bit of extra cash and doing something for themselves for a change.

Her feet are moving before she can stop herself and he’s already out back by the time she catches up to him. His boys are the ones who glance her way, their hands already going for their guns but he shakes his head. It’s the smallest of movements but they seem to catch it. Rio must say something then because a second later his boys are rounding the side of the house.

For a moment she stands there by the open door. He doesn’t turn around, just adjusts his coat a little. When she knows he’s not going to move, she starts walking again. Doesn’t stop until she’s right behind him.

“You know I didn’t steal that money.”

“Nah.”

“Don’t ‘ _nah_ ’ me.” She shoves him a little until he finally turns around to face her. Brow furrowed, jaw set. “I know you didn’t know about the women but how could you think I would do it? That I would let that happen?”

“Stole from me before.”

“No, I stole from a _grocery store_.” Beth sighs, her eyes drifting shut. “Look, I know it was all my fault but-”

“All your fault?” When she looks at him again, he’s frowning. Eyes focusing more on the way she tugs her sleeves over her hands. 

Beth nods. “Back then, I should have realised. You were doing-” she gestures vaguely into the air “- _this_ and well, I guess a part of me was always in denial, never thought it would be long term but it was. If I had just been more open about it, more accepting, then maybe you wouldn’t have had to pick.”

Realisation seems to dawn on him as he blinks his eyes back up to her’s. “That ain’t-”

“And it’s fine.” She holds her hands up to stop him from speaking. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you left like that or how you even could but I know that I played a part in making it so you had to choose.”

“That what you came out here to tell me?”

“I never would have brought the other women in on this if it wasn’t necessary,” Beth explains. “And they really don’t know anything. I know I’m the last person who should be getting people involved but I did think it through.”

Rio huffs out a breath. “You’re gonna need to sort it. I wasn’t messing around in there.”

“I know.”

“We changed, yeah?”

“Did we?” He blinks at her and Beth offers up a small smile. “I mean, sure, a little. I’ve got four kids now and I’m washing fake cash.” It’s not much but he lets out an amused sound as his eyes dart away. “And I don’t know, maybe you have, maybe you _had_ to. Or maybe this is the part of you I never got to see.”

“And what about the part you did get to see back then?”

“I still see it sometimes… When you let me.”

Rio runs his hand over his face. He looks tired and frustrated and so many other things all at once. It makes her ache a little. “Look, mama, I can’t let you away with this, yeah? Whether we forget the past or not, I gotta handle shit like this.”

She nods. “I just work for you now.”

He opens his mouth like he’s about to say something but then he just nods. “Get it done.”

And then he’s gone.

* * *

Annie and Ruby ask her, of course, they do - _Will he actually do it? Will he kill one of them?_ \- and all Beth can do is tell them to focus. That’s how they find themselves spending hours and hours in a parking lot, waiting to see which secret shopper doesn’t show up to do their job. It’s a long and slow process but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

And with it being Mary Pat whom none of them knows personally, Beth can’t help but wonder if it would be easier to just let Rio handle it. It’s an absurd thought, one she’s not really sure she’ll be able to live with if she goes along with it, but she’s so tired and it does sound tempting, even just for a moment. There’s just so much going on and it’s like everything keeps getting away from her. 

To make matters worse, Annie goes and gets herself arrested forcing Beth to have to put the kids in the van and drive down to the station to bail her out. Really, she thinks that maybe she should be thankful for something so normal to happen but with everything else going on in their lives right now, she can’t help but be a little frustrated at having to bail Annie out yet again.

And, of course, it leads to an argument outside the police station with the kids watching her from the van.

“I'm telling you I was set up, okay?”

“Like the cinnamon schnapps at prom?” ‘Cause they’ve been here before. Annie getting into trouble and _insisting_ it wasn’t her even though it usually always ended up being her fault.

“Why would you even throw that in my face? That's not relevant.”

“Because I am still bailing you out.”

“I'm telling you they were not mine,” Annie continues to insist. “Boomer set me up.”

There’s a sinking feeling in Beth’s stomach. “ _What_?”

Annie rubs at her eyes and when she speaks again, her voice is thick with emotion. “I'm gonna lose Sadie. You know it's true. There's no judge in the world that would let me keep her after a felony drug charge.”

She sobs then and Beth just watches her for a moment, heart-clenching. “I'm gonna help you with this. We are gonna figure this out together, okay?”

Pushing her hair out of her face, Annie shakes her head a little. “This is really bad.”

“Together, okay?”

There’s a pause as Annie steadies her breathing. “Okay…” A sigh. “Okay.”

Beth watches as she takes another deep breath in and then slowly exhales before heading towards the van, looking as bright and happy as she can muster.

* * *

_Going to the park wasn’t the plan but Beth found herself there regardless. She didn’t even know if he would show. They’d only ran into each other a few times before but something felt right about going there. And even if he didn’t, at least she could have a moment to herself. She was exhausted and the temptation to get up in leave was only getting stronger._

_“It’s like a sixth sense.”_

_She sat up a little straighter. “What is?”_

_“Thought about you and here you are.”_

_Beth looked at him as he came to sit on the table part of the picnic bench. “Isn’t it past your bedtime or something?”_

_He smiled, remembering their first interaction. “Funny.”_

_“I thought so,” she admitted, finding it hard to hide her own smile._

_“Any particular reason you’re hanging around here?”_

_“Dropped Annie at her friend’s house for a sleepover,” Beth explained. “Needed some time on my own for a bit.”_

_Rio hummed a little, thinking that over. “She’s how old?”_

_“Six.”_

_“You really take care of her?”_

_“When I have to,” she explained. “Which is more often than not lately.”_

_“You get sick of it?”_

_Beth sighed, dropping her head down to look at her lap. “Does it make me a bad person if I do?”_

_He shrugged. “Think it makes you human.”_

_“Then yeah, a little. It’s more about wanting to just be her sister for a change, not her mother.” Beth took a deep breath. “Of course, I’ll do it though. I love her and she didn’t ask for any of this. She needs me.” When she looked back up at him, he was watching her carefully. “What?”_

_“Nothing,” he said softly. “Just think you’re amazing.”_

_“That coming from a twelve-year-old? I’m honoured.”_

_Rio rolled his eyes. “Thirteen.”_

_“Right.”_

_They both smiled._

It seems to go from bad to worse. Not only does Mary Pat prove to be a bigger problem than they first anticipated but tensions rise between Beth, Annie, and Ruby again. Arguments that put them on edge again and almost threaten to tear them apart. It reminds Beth of their falling out in the dumpster and she can’t go through that again, she _can’t_.

That’s exactly how she finds herself on the floor of her en-suite with the shower running. She doesn’t have the energy to do much of anything and it just seems right to lay that with nothing to bother her except for the sound of the water running and it works for a bit, to distract her from her ever-growing thoughts of losing the people she loves when there’s a sudden knock at the door.

“Beth, are you decent?” Dean asks.

“Yeah,” she says before she pushes herself up into a sitting position.

As she adjusts her pyjama top and settles back against the bath, the door opens and Dean steps in. He looks down at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says, unable to look at him.

“I... I heard the water running for like the last hour, and I- I got worried.”

“Yeah, I couldn't sleep and then I couldn't shower, so…”

“Do… Do you mind if I turn off the shower? Just our water bill is gonna be insane.”

He’s already moving to turn it off anyway and right, _right_. “God, no, of course. I'm sorry.”

Once the water does shut off, Dean comes to sit on the floor beside her. “Can... Can I ask you one thing?”

And sure, why not? “Okay.”

“Are you doing it for us? She looks at him. “I mean the kids. I mean, are you doing this for the kids?”

Beth nods. “Yes.”

“That's all I need to know.”

And she can’t help the way she wonders if he’s doing this on purpose. If he knows or thinks she might be onto him and is trying to be understanding to put her off that trail. She hates that her life has become this. Constantly questioning the person she’s supposed to trust with her life.

“It’s always been about them and it always will be,” she promises.

Dean nods his head a little before standing up. “Do you need anything?”

She shakes her head. “No. I’ll get up in a moment and just go to bed.”

“I’m going to bed as well,” he says as he heads for the door. “But come get me if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay.”

Once he’s gone, Beth lies back down again. 

_“Hey.”_

_Beth glanced up. She had deliberately chosen a spot at the back of the library so she wouldn’t be disturbed. She can’t quite decide if she’s happy or not to see Rio standing on the opposite side of the table she’d occupied. Her hope had been to avoid everyone._

_“How did you find me?”_

_“You.” He pointed at her as he sat down opposite her. “Are predictable.”_

_She huffed out a breath, slouching in her seat. “I just wanted some time alone.”_

_“Ain’t it your anniversary soon?”_

_“Yeah, one whole year of marriage.”_

_He smirked. “Regretting it already?”_

_Beth kicked him under the table, earning herself a hiss that made her grin. “That’s what you get.”_

_“Harsh, ma.” As childish as it was, she stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes. “A’ight, so why the alone time?”_

_“Just like the quiet.” At that, he chewed on his bottom lip, nodding slightly. She could tell then that there was something else. “Now you can tell me why you tracked me down.”_

_“‘Bout the motel…”_

_“That was months ago.”  Not that she could forget. She could still remember the phone call that had her going to a cheap motel in the middle of the night._

_“Yeah, I know, but we ain’t really talked about it since.”_

_Beth sat up straight. “We don’t need to.” She shrugged. “You said you needed me.”_

_“I did but-”_

_She held her hand up to stop him. “Look, I’ve got four people in my life right now who mean something to me and care about me. Annie, Ruby, Dean, and… You.”_

_He licked his lips. “Me, eh?”_

_“Yes, you.” She smiled, letting her hand fall palm down, flat onto the table. He placed his on the table too so that the tips of his fingers touched hers. “I don’t have much family.” He nodded. She let out a breath. “You know, I’d only known Ruby a little over a year when I met you.”_

_He blinked at her. “Didn’t know that. Figured you’d known each other forever.”_

_“Seems like it, huh?” Beth laughed. “Feels like I’ve known her my whole life. And I feel that way with you. You’re my family and that night at the motel, seeing you injured and so_ skittish _, it scared me but I would go through it all again because you needed me.”_

_Beth flipped her hand over and he lifted his to place over hers. His fingertips pressed gently into the palm of her hand and she did the same to him. “Well, I’d do anything for you, too. You know that, yeah?” He tilted his head to the side a little. “Whenever you need me.”_

She believed him. Of course, she did. And maybe, _maybe_ if she had a way to contact him after he left and she had told him she needed him, he would have come home. It makes her think about the blanket, about the note he had left her. She could be angry that Rio didn’t follow up, that he just assumed she had ignored it and she could be angry at Dean for getting rid of the note in the first place. There’s a lot of things she could be angry about.

But there’s no point.

She pushes up from the floor and stumbles into the bedroom where she falls face-first onto the bed.

* * *

It’s late.

It’s cold.

She gives him his cash.

She doesn’t give him Mary Pat’s name, only her own.

They can meet wherever the hell he likes but she is _not_ doing that. Not giving someone up like a lamb to the slaughter because there’s no need. It was her idea, her problem, and she’ll handle it. She tells him so.

“Now let me give you some advice, yeah?” She nods, looking him right in the eye so he knows she’s taking this seriously because she is. “When you got a rotten egg in the bunch, it stinks up the whole lot ‘til you get rid of it.”

Maybe he’s right. It would definitely be easier to make sure Mary Pat would never be a problem again but still- “It was a long time ago but do you remember…” She considers him a moment. “Do you remember that time you said you’d do anything for me? Whenever I needed you?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “I remember.”

“Things might have changed but I just need you to do one thing for me.”

He settles back on the hood of his car, the bag of cash still clutched his hands, looking amused. “Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

“I need you to let me do this. To handle it _my_ way,” she tells him and his face goes blank, covering up any emotion. “I fixed this problem and I will make sure it never happens again.”

“And if your way don’t work?”

“Then I’ll face the consequences.”

He rocks his jaw. “They might not be pretty, sweetheart.”

“I know.”

For a moment, he just watches her carefully. “A’ight but you get no third chance with this, yeah?”

Beth nods. “Okay.”

“Why you so determined to handle it?”

“We have different methods.”

He scoffs.”Tell me ‘bout it.”

“I’m new to all of this,” she tells him, motioning vaguely to the air around her. “But I’m learning quickly and I know I can deal with this. Back then, I would have asked for your help in a heartbeat and in all these years since…” She sighs. “I’ve relied on Dean’s help and now it’s time for me to sort my own problems, my own way.”

“It’s my problem too.”

“ _I’m_ your problem,” she points out. “The shoppers are _mine_. They weren’t your idea, that was my choice. There wouldn’t be an issue if I hadn't hired them. So, I deal with _my_ problem and therefore, I fix yours.” It doesn’t seem like he’s going to agree with her but then he nods. She takes that as her cue and wastes no time in moving over to her car. At the last moment, as she opens up the door, she looks back at him. He hasn’t moved and he raises a brow at her, waiting. “And don't ever point a gun at me again.”

There’s a hint of a smile but he covers it up quickly. She’s thankful that he doesn’t ask her to elaborate, doesn’t tell her no. It’s not like she isn’t aware that he’ll “handle” her if her mistakes pile up and things go too far south but, despite their distance, they can still communicate without the need for him to put his gun against her head. Without another look in his direction, she gets into her car and drives away.


End file.
